Riyad Mahrez joins Saudi exodus as Manchester City accept £30m Al Alhi bid

Riyad Mahrez has agreed to join Saudi club Al Ahli from Manchester City in a £30.4 million deal.

The Algeria winger was not among the City squad that flew to Japan on Wednesday for the start of their pre-season tour after Al Ahli finally reached an agreement on a fee with the Premier League champions following weeks of negotiations.

City will receive an initial €30 million (£26.1 million) with a further €5 million (£4.3 million) payable in add-ons depending on his and Al Alhi’s success.

Mahrez, 32, is due to undergo a medical with Al Ahli on Thursday as he prepares to become the latest high profile player to accept a money-spinning offer from the Saudi Pro League. He will sign a three-year contract with the option of another year.

Although Pep Guardiola would have liked to have kept Mahrez, City accepted that such a fee was hard to turn down for a player of that age and recognised the winger’s willingness to move. There have been reports Mahrez could earn up between £450,000 and £850,000 a week in Saudi.

City have been braced for Mahrez’s exit and have been drawing up plans to replace the winger, who signed from Leicester for £60 million in 2018.

Mahrez’s impending move is also expected to harden City’s determination to keep Bernardo Silva, who can play in a variety of midfield roles and out wide, especially since Ilkay Gundogan has left to join Barcelona as a free agent. Trying to replace Bernardo in addition to Gundogan and Mahrez in the same summer would be difficult, even for a club with City’s resources and allure.

Paris St Germain are keen to sign Bernardo, who also has lucrative offers from Saudi, but City value him around the €100 million mark and hope to keep him. The Portugal midfielder has been linked with a move away for the previous three summers.

City have signed Croatia midfielder Mateo Kovacic from Chelsea for an initial £25 million but with the futures of defenders Kyle Walker, Joao Cancelo and Aymeric Laporte also in doubt there is the prospect of significant change at last season’s Treble winners that would place an added burden on the club to buy well.

Walker was due to hold talks with Guardiola this week amid Bayern Munich’s attempts to sign the England defender, whom City are eager to keep. Cancelo and Laporte are likely to leave should City receive acceptable offers for the Portugal full back and Spain centre-half respectively. City are in discussions with RB Leipzig over a deal for Croatia defender Josko Gvardiol.

Walker, Cancelo, Laporte and Bernardo were all among the squad that travelled to Japan on Wednesday. City are due to play Yokohama F. Marinos in Tokyo on Sunday. Kevin De Bruyne also travelled despite aggravating a hamstring injury in the Champions League final last month.

Cole Palmer is expected to leave on loan, with Brighton currently leading the chase from Burnley, Everton and others, although it remains to be seen if any struggles to replace Mahrez force a rethink on that situation.