Over the past two seasons Riyad Mahrez has overcome his early City struggles to become one of the club’s most consistent performers.
Regular game time isn’t always easy to come by at City given the wealth of attacking talent available. But having developed a knack for delivering in the big games both domestically and in Europe - see the Champions League home and away legs against PSG- , Mahrez is now one of the first names on Pep Guardiola’s teamsheet.
Outsiders will assume that the £100 million signing of Jack Grealish would threaten Mahrez's place in the side, but quite the opposite is true. In fact, it could inspire the Algerian winger to have his best ever season in blue.
The arrival of Grealish could see Bernardo Silva moving in the opposite direction. The Portuguese star is reported to be attracting the interests of Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, so a sale would help City to balance the books.
If the popular Bernardo were to leave, it would make Mahrez the far-and-away favourite to nail down the right wing position this season.
The knowledge that he is likely to start most games, as well as the fact that in Grealish he has another super-talent to play alongside, could give Mahrez the confidence boost he needs to reach the next level at City.
Another key factor in Mahrez’s favour this summer is preparation. For the first time since he arrived at the club he has had a full pre-season.
As a new signing in 2018 pre-season was more about familiarising himself with his new surroundings, while in 2019 his summer vacation ran late due to his Africa Cup of Nations exploits with Algeria.
In 2020, like all Premier League players, the suspension of football due to the pandemic meant that only a few weeks separated the end of 2019/20 and the start of 2020/21.
This summer he was among the first players to return from vacation and is looking all the more sharper for it, having scored in each of City’s three pre-season matches. He curled home a sumptuous free-kick to open the scoring against Preston North End before adding clean strikes against Barnsley and Blackpool.
Despite the disruption to each summer's preparations, Mahrez still managed to notch 13 goals and 13 assists in 2019/20, and 14 goals and nine assists in 2020/21. Those are great numbers, but now with a full pre-season under his belt he could reach the heights of his 2015/16 season with Leicester City.
That year his 17 goals and 11 assists propelled Leicester to the title, and this year he could be the driving force at City.
With likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden and Gabriel Jesus absent from City’s warm-up games and rumours of a possible Bernardo exit circulating, Mahrez has a unique opportunity to cement his place in Pep Guardiola’s best XI for the season.
He seems a sure bet to start for City in the Premier League opener against Spurs on August 15. A good performance there would make it hard for anyone to take his spot.
