Riyad Mahrez left Algeria camp to force deadline day move to Manchester United, report claims

Poor old Jim White. The final transfer deadline day of 2017 had promised so, so much.

Big moves for Alexis Sanchez, Virgil van Dijk, Thomas Lemar and Philippe Coutinho were - according to some reports at least - expected to be concluded at some point before 11pm. This was not to be. By the time Jim parked himself behind his Sky Sports News desk, it was already clear that all of the aforementioned deals were off. A day that had promised to play out like a transfer muppet's wet dream was all fizzling out into a bit of a disappointment. There was, however, the issue of Riyad Mahrez to clear up. That morning, reports had confirmed that the want-away Leicester star had been granted permission to leave the Algerian national squad base to seal a move away from the Foxes. His intended destination remained unclear throughout the day and, as the hours ticked away, people began to grow increasingly worried about where the hell the 26-year-old was. https://twitter.com/SportsJOE_UK/status/903364359359000576 Thankfully, Mahrez did eventually show up. He failed to get his mystery move away from Leicester but hey, at least there was no need to file a missing person's report. With Mahrez now back with his international colleagues, the Daily Star say the player's representatives had spent deadline day trying to force a move to Manchester United. Although no real details are given, the report claims that Mahrez's management were aware of Jose Mourinho's desire to bring in a wide player over the summer, and attempted to push through a deal that would see their client switch to Old Trafford. It isn't clear if United had expressed any interest in the player, despite reports suggesting they had enquired about him during last week. Until at least January, Mahrez will be staying put at the King Power.