Riyad Mahrez replacements were too expensive for Leicester – Claude Puel

Leicester City manager Claude Puel has admitted that his ideal replacements for outgoing star Riyad Mahrez were far too expensive to bring into the club this summer. 

After coming close to a move to Manchester City back in the January transfer window, Mahrez finally got his dream move to the Premier League champions this summer for a fee of £60 million, making him the most expensive African player of all-time.

That money went straight into the Leicester transfer kitty, with Puel in the market for a replacement for Mahrez.

However, the Foxes boss has revealed that it was almost impossible to replace the quality that Mahrez embodied, with few players matching his ability. He also confirmed that those such players were just too expensive to bring into the club this summer.

“We lost Riyad and we cannot replace him with his quality,” Puel was quoted as saying by Fansided.

“And about the price also because it’s too expensive to buy this player.”

That isn’t to say that Leicester didn’t make any moves in the transfer market.

Highly-sought young midfielder James Maddison was brought in from Championship outfit Norwich City for a sum close to £20 million, with Puel’s side spending close to £100 million across the summer months in a bid to strengthen the side who won the Premier League title just three seasons ago.

“It was important to give those attributes for the squad and to share the responsibility in the team,” he continued.

“Not just Maddison, but for the future, it will be also [Rachid] Ghezzal or different players.

“We try to give good additions for the squad with different talented players and we will see this in the next games.

“For the first game, the players that came in the transfer window played well, and it’s encouraging for the next games.”

After losing on the opening day of the season to Manchester United, Leicester City’s next match is against newly promoted Wolves this Saturday.

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