Claude Puel insists Leicester have no intention of selling Riyad Mahrez this month amid talk of interest from Liverpool and Arsenal.
Mahrez failed to secure a summer move away from Leicester but has been in sublime form since Claude Puel was appointed manager at the end of October.
The Algeria international has reportedly been identified as a possible replacement for Philippe Coutinho and Alexis Sanchez by Liverpool and Arsenal respectively.
However, Puel insists Leicester are not interested in selling Mahrez midway through the season and will rebuff any offers from their Premier League rivals.
“He has a fantastic influence on the team, a valuable player for the team,” The Guardian quote Puel as saying.
“We can see he is enjoying his football and is happy with his team-mates and with us. It’s important for us to keep our best players.
“The good ambition for him is to continue this hard work, to show his consistency game after game, until the end of the season. He has come back at a good level: he is clinical, with assists, with goals, and it’s important he continues this work and shows people the player he is, without the ball [and] with it. He is making progress. It’s a good thing of course, [if] he continues all season with us.
“It’s not a question in our mind [if Mahrez will leave this month]. All the noise is just speculation. Of course we are in the transfer window and it’s normal for all the best players [to be linked with transfers], but I’m not afraid about this because there’s a fantastic spirit and a good attitude in this squad.
“I have confidence in Riyad. We spoke a lot with him, [about] different things, and often about football, because he likes football a lot. He is now with good maturity, good experience of life, and we can see this in this game.”
The 26-year-old has played a direct hand in 14 Premier League goals this season (seven goals, seven assists), which is five more than he managed in the whole of last term.
