Man City Hit Back at Claims They 'Disrespected' Leicester in Riyad Mahrez Transfer Pursuit

Manchester City have hit back at claims made by Leicester City boss Claude Puel that the club disrespected the Foxes in their transfer deadline day pursuit of Riyad Mahrez.

As reported by the Manchester Evening News, the Citizen's sporting director Txiki Begiristain has argued that he began negotiations with Leicester for the Algerian ace a week before the transfer deadline - not the one or two day period that Puel had previously claimed. 

It is also stated that the league leaders assured the Foxes that they would abandon the deal if there was no interest from the club, but had their hopes kept alive as transfers talks continued until deadline day - at which point the clubs reached a stalemate over their valuation of the player.

OLI SCARFF/GettyImages

Mahres was reported to be deeply upset when his move to the Citizens failed to go through on deadline day, and refused to turn up for training for over a week until he eventually returned to first team action. 

The talented winger was in a similar situation on last summer's deadline day, when a move away from the Foxes also failed to go through in time.

The reports of Puel's claims being wide of the mark have been supported by claims from the Sun writer Martin Blackburn, who contended on Twitter that City were given hope that a deal would be possible during the transfer window. Evidently, there is more to the matter than meets the eye, and the Citizens may well have reason to feel aggrieved for Leicester's public criticism.

Meanwhile, Man City star Gabriel Jesus has sought the wisdom of his fellow-countryman and childhood hero Ronaldo, after quizzing the Brazilian legend on his methods of recovering from knee injuries. Jesus suffered a medial ligament injury on New Year's Eve and is yet to return to action for his side. 

Pep Guardiola will be desperate to have the goal-machine back as soon as possible, as his team continue to compete in four major competitions.