Is There Going To Be A Gray Day At Leicester

One name that is repeatedly being linked with a move away from The King Power Stadium this summer is that of Riyad Mahrez, with Arsenal seemingly not forthcoming with anything resembling a concrete offer and Roma only lowballing the 2016 Premier League champions there are not many offers left on the table for the Algerian.

But the same cannot not be said for England Under 21 international Demarai Gray who is now set to have talks with the club with a view to moving on before the transfer window. Frustrated at the lack of game time under both Claudio Ranieri and Craig Shakespeare it is felt that it is time to look for pastures new.

And when you look at the initial handful of clubs that are reportedly being linked with the winger then you would have to say that there are no shortage of potential suitors but will the youngster ultimately find himself in the same boat if he were to move on from the East Midlands?

Everton and Tottenham lead the pack in regards from domestic interest but also somewhat surprisingly German giants Borussia Dortmund also find themselves in the frame in a bid to acquire the services of the former Birmingham player.

That is an impressive trio of clubs that are coveting your signature but at the same time would the situation in regards to a lack of playing time be resolved, the answer to that in my opinion is no. Everton are buying all and sundry right now, Tottenham are looking for squad players and Dortmund have an embarrassment of riches in that area of the pitch.

Looking at Dortmund’s squad they have at their disposal Marco Reus, Mario Gotze, Ousmane Dembele, Christian Pulisic, Andre Shurrle and Shinji Kagawa. Where exactly if at all does Demarai Gray fit into this, answer in all honesty is not at all.

Therefore a move to Germany probably looks like a non starter unless the Signal Iduna Park outfit are bracing themselves for a couple of departures from those ranks and look to the 21 year old to fill what would be a rather large void.

But even if we take a move to the Bundesliga out of the equation, you would have to wonder if he would be able to match or beat the fact he made 30 Premier League appearances for Leicester last season. At Everton possibly at Tottenham not at all.

There is of course the caveat that a lot of them have been off the bench, of the 42 top flight appearances that Gray has made only 10 of them have been starts. Therefore less than 25% of his Premier League outings have been in the starting eleven.

Which in Gray’s eyes is not enough and that is something he is now looking to rectify, whether he really is angling for a move away or this is just a ploy to get reassurances that he will feature more next season remain to be seen but in terms of actual playing minutes any move can only be a sideways move at best.

Of course if he was to move to either Everton or Tottenham for example then it would be a move to a bigger club (not withstanding Leicester’s Premier League success, we’re back to reality now) but with that there would be even more competition for a first team berth.

Perhaps last season with Leicester in the Champions League then it gives you a good enough reason to dig in and see what you can do over the course of the campaign but with The Foxes now back to just a normal perhaps life is not all that rosy in the East Midlands.

The same explanation can be attributed as to why Riyad Mahrez is looking to depart, the European rollercoaster has been ridden and it seems as if the fairtyale has finally come to an end. What else is their left to do at Leicester when you’ve already done the unthinkable.

For Mahrez I think he has got ideas above his station as to just how talented he is, lets not forget he did not have a spectacular season in defence of the Premier League title and is a long way off ever getting that dream move to Barcelona which could and arguably should have happened 12 months ago,

Mahrez has not quite downed tools but you get the impression his head is elsewhere, that is perhaps fair enough with the reasons stated above. Could he have gone about his business a bit better perhaps but at the same time he has not necessarily angling for a move away and creating something of a drawn out saga.

The only problem it does create is that it sets a bad impression to his teammates and this is here Gray may well feel that if others are leaving then maybe it’s time I climb off the ship also. It is apparent he wants regular game time and that may well come with a move but he needs to make sure he makes the right one or it is back to square one.