Riyad Mahrez has declared he will not hide from his tough start to life at Manchester City.
The winger was one of the heroes of the final-day drama at Brighton, scoring a brilliant goal to give the Blues a two-goal cushion and ease fraying nerves.
But his selection in that game came as a shock, as Mahrez had not started a league game since April 3, and has been in the XI 14 times out of 38 league games.
For a man who was a club record £60million buy, that was a sobering introduction, as the form of Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane and Bernardo Silva has overshadowed him at various times of the season.
That led to speculation he might leave in the summer, talk that was quashed by manager Pep Guardiola recently.
And Mahrez also dismissed such talk, saying he would remain and fight for his place.
“It’s not easy to come to a team who are settled, have the players who play,” he said.
“That squad did everything last season. I knew it wouldn’t be easy in my first year but I’m very confident in myself and have no doubts about my quality.
“I knew that when I had my chance I’d take it. I scored at Brighton and helped the team.”
That goal helped Mahrez join a select group of players who have won the Premier League with more than one club, after his triumph with Leicester in 2016.
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And he confirmed Guardiola’s claim that he is going nowhere.
“I’m very happy here,” he said. “I’m not going somewhere else because I don’t play.
“It’s part of the game. I need to be strong, stay strong. It’s part of my personality, I never hide away from things.”
Clutching his second winner’s medal, Mahrez said: “I’m very, very happy. It’s an amazing feeling.
“I think we deserved to win it, but we have to give credit to Liverpool and thank them because they are an amazing team as well. We were a bit better, 98 points over 97.
“It was very tough. It wasn’t easy. We stayed focused, played our games like we do every time. We never change our plans. That made the difference.”
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