Riyad Mahrez’s brutal verdict on Man City exit after wife voiced concerns

Riyad Mahrez was one of a multitude of big names to depart the Premier League for the Saudi Pro League last summer.

The Algeria winger spent five years at Manchester City and scored 15 times in their Treble-winning season, but despite remaining an important player in Pep Guardiola’s squad he decided that it was time for a change at the end of the campaign.

Mahrez joined Al-Ahli in Jeddah, and in doing so uprooted his and his wife’s lives, a process that can be seen in Amazon Prime Video’s new series ‘Married to the Game’.

A tough family move

The six-part series, which was released on Friday (February 23), goes behind the scenes with a number of Premier League stars, including Mahrez, Ilkay Gundogan and Jorginho.

A clip shared by Prime on social media shows an exchange between Mahrez and wife Taylor Ward as they discussed the move to Saudi Arabia.

This is how the exchange played out…

Ward: “This is actually a bigger move for me than it is you. I’m actually leaving. Manchester’s my home.”

Mahrez: “Always. You can come back any time you want.”

Ward: “When you get to Saudi you’ll automatically have 30 friends when you get there, you’ll be with all your teammates, your new teammates, you’re going to make new friends. I’m going to be sat at home on my own [like] Billy no mates.”

Mahrez: “You’re going to be with me, I’m your friend as well.”

Ward: “You’re going to be my only friend, you’re going to be so sick of me. You know what’s crazy? I thought with this move you’d be the one that was really sad and I’d be the one that was holding you through it.”

Mahrez: “God made it easy for me, to be fair. I thought it was going to be more difficult than that.”

Ward: “Yeah but you’ve not even flinched.”

Mahrez: “It’s part of the game, isn’t it?”

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Mahrez has enjoyed a decent start to his Al-Ahli career, registering nine goals and eight assists in 21 appearances.