Riyad Mahrez will leave Man City for Saudi Arabia without the plaudits he deserves

The list of 14 players who have notched 60-plus goals and 60-plus assists in the Premier League reads like a who’s who of Premier League attacking talent.

Half of their number have already been inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame and it would have been eight without the dark cloud of a domestic violence trial. It might have been nine without a conspiracy theorist rapidly and publicly unravelling and will be at least 10 when David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne retire from the game.

The full list: Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney, Kevin De Bruyne, Frank Lampard, Dennis Bergkamp, David Silva, Steven Gerrard, David Beckham, Teddy Sheringham, Thierry Henry, Andy Cole, Alan Shearer, Matt Le Tissier and Riyad Mahrez.

We would be astonished if the latter is ever inducted, despite winning exactly as many Premier League titles as Peter Schmeichel, John Terry and Wayne Rooney. His name feels like an intrusion into a list that does not even include Harry Kane; Mahrez has quietly excelled in the top flight for almost a decade but could leave this summer with barely a shrug from anyone outside east Manchester. Has any exceptional Premier League footballer been so under-appreciated?

At one juncture, the answer to that question would have been ‘yes, Sergio Aguero‘, who also suffered from being a quiet, foreign player at a club with a growing but miniscule (in comparison with Manchester United or Liverpool) global following. And then there are the asterisks, with every achievement from a City player denigrated by association. Over 60 goals? Over 60 assists? Ah, but it’s City.

Yet Mahrez was simply electric in that Leicester title-winning season, entirely deserving a move to Manchester City which has seen him produce five years of consistent magic. “He is a guy who dances on the pitch,” said Pep Guardiola during one of many purple patches from the Algerian.

Last season was not his best but still brought 15 goals in all competitions. Last season was not his best but only De Bruyne and Bruno Fernandes contributed to more chances per 90 minutes in the Premier League. If that’s the worst of Mahrez then we really should appreciate the best.

Mahrez may be painted as a Manchester City fringe player if gets his wish to leave for Saudi Arabia but only nine players played more minutes for City in a Treble-winning season. His problem – which understandably made him ‘grumpy’ – was that none of those minutes came in the Champions League or FA Cup finals, by which time Pep Guardiola had settled on a formation that did not include him. That he started the last seven Premier League games of the season as City wrapped up the title appears to have brought little solace.

It’s hardly surprising that Mahrez wanted more from Guardiola because at any other Premier League he would be as overworked as Fernandes at Manchester United. At any other Premier League club there would be talk of statues. At any other Premier League club he would have been in at least one PFA Team of the Year. But this is City and along with the rotation from Pep comes a lack of respect from elsewhere.

The list of 14 players who have notched 60-plus goals and 60-plus assists in the Premier League reads like a who’s who of Premier League attacking talent. And among them is Riyad Mahrez.