THIS IS WHY HE WORTH IT

"INI MENGAPA MAHREZ PANTAS KE CITY"

Manchester City baru saja memecahkan rekor transfer klub senilai £60 juta untuk mantan andalan Leicester ini.
(MEN)

Seberapa bagus Riyad Mahrez masih menjadi perdebatan sebagian orang. Banyak, yang meragukan - Mahrez bisa menyaingi setidaknya N'Golo Kante atau Danny Drinkwater sebagai sesama juara Liga Primer 2016 lalu.

Bahkan, dengan kecemerlangan Bernardo Silva musim lalu, pertanyaan semakin melebar bagaimana Mahrez bisa masuk ke formasi yang sudah terisi talenta-talenta muda menjanjikan.

Namun Txiki Begiristain dan Pep Guardiola, tidak meragukan sama sekali penilaian mereka terhadap starlet Aljazair ini dan sudah mengejarnya sejak Januari lalu. Bahkan setelah musim selesai dan Mahrez bertingkah konyol tentang kegagalan transfernya.

Sebenarnya mudah menilai kepantasan transfer ini jika melihat fakta berikut.

Gelandang Aljazair usia 27 tahun ini satu-satunya yang mencetak lebih dari 10 gol dan 10 assist dalam 2 musim dari 3 musim terakhirnya bersama Leicester (Squawka).

Saat membawa Leicester Juara Mahrez sukses mencetak 17 gol dan 11 assist, sedangkan musim lalu 12 gol dan 10 assist sudah dicatatnya.

Mencetak pencapaian tersebut dalam satu musim saja sudah sulit, musim lalu hanya 5 pemain yang mampu mencatat pencampaian serupa, 3 diantaranya bahkan ada di tim juara Manchester City. Tidak heran mencetaknya dalam dua musim butuh kecemerlangan tertentu belum lagi ditambah dia mencetaknya bersama Leicester.

Tetap ada yang berpendapat mudah mencetaknya bersama tim selain Top 6 Liga Primer, tapi faktanya untuk menciptakan peluang saja mereka sudah sulit.

David Silva (10 gol dan 11 assist), Leroy Sane (10 dan 15), dan Raheem Sterling (18 dan 11) semuanya menunjukkan bahwa masih mungkin mencetak pencapaian tersebut walaupun minim kesempatan bermain dengan tim yang sudah terbentuk, seperti Christian Eriksen dan Mo Salah di Tottenham dan Liverpool.

Namun peringatan keras tetap menghantui lini serang City. Pelatih Pep seringkali mengingatkan untuk selalu mendukung Sergio Aguero sang andalan City, mengingat belum adanya pemain yang mampu mencetak gol sebaik Aguero.

Bahkan hingga kini Pep masih ragu timnya mampu tampil lebih baik - walaupun anak didiknya sudah mencetak rekor 106 gol dalam semusim kemarin.

Siapapun yang mampu menjadi Starting XI Pep, Mahrez sepertinya masih mampu menjaga Etihad Stadium banjir gol.


[ENGLISH TEXT]
How good a signing Riyad Mahrez can be for Manchester City isn't likely to dawn on the masses until the new season is up and running.

For now, there are those doubting how the ex-Leicester man can step up - whether he will be an N'Golo Kante or a Danny Drinkwater when compared to his fellow 2016 champions.

And, as with Bernardo Silva last summer, the debate over how the new player can fit into a City attack already stuffed with talent is a valid one.

Txiki Beigiristain and Pep Guardiola, however, have no doubts about the club-record signing and saw enough in the Algerian to go for him first in January and again when the season finished, even after Mahrez's behaviour when he didn't get what he wanted on transfer deadline day.

When you look at his record with Leicester, it is easy to understand why City bosses are thrilled.

The 27-year-old is the only player to have tallied at least 10 goals and 10 assists in two of the last three seasons, according to stats website Squawka.

He managed 17 goals and 11 assists in the title-winning year, and 12 goals and 10 assists in the 2017/18 campaign.

Hitting that landmark in one campaign is hard enough; just five others managed it last season, and three of those are already in the City squad. To do so more than once suggests a brilliance that is lasting rather than fleeting, especially given the fact he has done it at Leicester.

There is an argument that it is easier to shine in a team outside of the top four or six, but what that misses is how much harder it is for those sides to create and take chances.

David Silva (10 goals and 11 assists), Leroy Sane (10 and 15) and Raheem Sterling (18 and 11) all showed last year that it is possible to make major contributions without playing every game if your team is good enough, as Christian Eriksen and Mo Salah did for Spurs and Liverpool respectively.

The danger from every City player going forward was critical to their title romp. Guardiola used the final press conference of his first season in challenge the rest of his team to back up Sergio Aguero, lamenting the fact that nobody had chipped in with enough goals to support the star striker.

Even at the beginning of the next season, the coach was not convinced his team was clinical enough - but the rest of the squad made their point with 106 goals in a record-smashing campaign.

Regardless of who makes Guardiola's XI, Mahrez makes the likelihood of goals at the Etihad even greater.

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