Man City hit back at Claude Puel's claims Riyad Mahrez approach showed lack of respect

Manchester City have hit back at Claude Puel’s claims they showed Leicester City a lack of respect in their pursuit of Riyad Mahrez as the fall-out from the failed transfer showed no signs of abating.

Puel questioned the timing of Manchester City’s move for Mahrez after claiming it was disrespectful of the Premier League leaders to try to snare one of their best players just 48 hours before the close of the transfer window last month, with little time to find a replacement.

But Manchester City have dismissed Puel’s remarks by insisting their director of football, Txiki Begiristain, first made contact with Leicester City a week before deadline day.

READ MORE: Riyad Mahrez ‘better than ever before’ according to Puel

The Manchester club, who are keeping tight-lipped over whether they might revive their interest in Mahrez in the summer, have also suggested Leicester City gave them some encouragement at that time that they would listen to offers for the Algeria playmaker.

They had proposed a cash deal worth up to £60 million for Mahrez but Leicester City rejected that on the basis they want a package worth as much as £95 million. The Midlands club did enquire about taking Patrick Roberts, the Manchester City forward currently on loan at Celtic, but that proved a non-starter.

“We need perhaps some others’ respect,” Puel said of Manchester City’s approach for Mahrez at a press conference on Wednesday.

“To make solicitation just one or two days before the end of the transfer window, I don’t know if it’s normal. I can’t suffer this situation. Some teams can have a lot of possibility to replace players — they have a different situation to manage.

“We don’t have a lot of players with the same quality as Riyad. For some other teams, it’s not a difficulty to replace their players.”

Mahrez had submitted a transfer request in a bid to force through a move to Manchester City but when negotiations collapsed the player went AWOL.

Mahrez subsequently released a statement after returning to training last Friday in which he claimed Leicester City had been kept informed of his whereabouts.

But those claims were contradicted on Wednesday by Puel, who said he had no knowledge of Mahrez’s whereabouts before his return.

Mahrez came on as a second half substitute against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium last weekend, when Leicester City were crushed 5-1.