Chelsea submit £45m bid for Riyad Mahrez, transfer ‘will happen tonight’ — report

Leicester City attacking midfielder Riyad Mahrez, who may or may not have spent the night at a London hotel after gaining permission from the Algeria national team yesterday to leave their training camp in order to sort out his future, could yet become a Chelsea player before the transfer window closes in a little over five hours.

At least that’s what beIN Sports are peddling and they seem rather confident, claiming that Mahrez “will be” a Chelsea player by tonight after the Blues submitted a £45m bid. If true, Chelsea could end the day with three of the five key pieces from Leicester City’s title-winning side from two years on the books at Stamford Bridge (Vardy and Kasper Schmeichel the only two missing).

Earlier today, Leicester City claimed that they had received no bids for Mahrez, but if beIN’s report is true then Chelsea have remedied that situation, and with emphasis.

Mahrez was the Premier League’s Player of the Season in 2015-16 and despite a bit of a down year last season, remains a highly talented player. At 26 years of age, he’s just about in his prime and in this market, £45m would be a decent enough price.

Attacking midfield isn’t the position of greatest need at the club and Mahrez would probably take minutes away from Charly Musonda Jr, though given Pedro’s versatility (backup left wing-back?), there could still be plenty of minutes to go around.

In any case, we’ll find out soon enough just how close to the truth beIN were with this report.