Roma Sporting Director Monchi Provides Update to Ongoing Riyad Mahrez Transfer Saga

AS Roma's director of football Ramón Rodríguez Verdejo, known more commonly as Monchi, has claimed that the Serie A side are no closer to securing a deal for Leicester City's Riyad Mahrez.

The Algerian winger has been a target of the Giallorossi for some time now, with Roma being the only team to have submitted a bid for Mahrez since he submitted a transfer request earlier in the summer.

"The situation with Mahrez has not changed" Monchi told the press, via ESPN.

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"I would like to say a couple of things, though," he added.

"A club like Roma, who can boast the calibre of players like [Lorenzo] Pellegrini, [Kevin] Strootman, [Radja] Nainggolan, [Edin] Dzeko, [Federico] Fazio or [Aleksandar] Kolarov, cannot think that their overall performance is going to depend on the arrival of just one specific right-winger.

"The guarantee comes from the route you are on and the group you have."

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Roma have had two bids turned down by Leicester in their attempts to secure the services of the former PFA player of the year, while reports claim they are set to make another club-record move.

Monchi went on to assure fans of Roma that they are determined in their endeavours to secure a big name signing this transfer window.

"The second message I wanted to give is that I don't know if Mahrez or somebody else will come but, whoever arrives, he will be a big player who is able to add quality to an already magnificent squad."

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Roma will be looking to try and improve on their second place finish in Serie A last season. However, they face stiff opposition as big rivals such as AC Milan, Inter Milan, Napoli and reigning champions Juventus have all strengthened their squad for the upcoming campaign.

The new Serie A campaign kicks off on Saturday August 19 with Roma playing their season opener one day later as they travel away to Atalanta on August 20.