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Despite missing out on a deadline day move to Manchester City, it doesn’t seem like Riyad Mahrez is going to settle back into life as a Leicester City player anytime soon. The Algerian star put in a transfer request only for the Foxes to demand over £90m for his services, a figure that City apparently baulked at.
And so Mahrez has now missed training four times and according to reports, is refusing to return to Leicester and looks set to miss their weekend FA Cup clash with Sheffield United - despite really having no ground to do so having only signed a new deal with Leicester in the summer of 2016.
Mahrez isn’t the first player to go on strike to attempt to force a move to another club, though – ever since player power became a bigger issue in the mid-1990’s with the advent of the Bosman ruling, we’ve seen issues like Mahrez’s become more commonplace in the game. Here are five classic examples.
#1 Pierre van Hooijdonk at Nottingham Forest, 1998
The original and possibly the best “striker” on this list, Dutchman van Hooijdonk rose to fame in the mid-90’s by banging goals in for Celtic. A move to Nottingham Forest in early 1997 couldn’t save them from relegation from the Premier League, but in 1997/98 van Hooijdonk starred in Forest’s title-winning Division 1 season, earning the club promotion.
Due to his form – and performances in the 1998 World Cup – clubs were sniffing around the Dutchman, but Forest promised to match the player’s ambitions by signing new talent and van Hooijdonk decided to stay.
Unfortunately, the signings never happened and when Forest refused to transfer list him to allow a proposed move to Newcastle United or PSV Eindhoven, van Hooijdonk took off back to Holland and refused to come back.
Cooler heads finally prevailed almost three months into the season, and van Hooijdonk returned to Forest when he realised they wouldn’t budge and refused all offers for him.
He ended up making 21 appearances in 1998/99 for Forest but never fit back in – his teammates even refused to celebrate a goal with him – and with the side relegated at the end of the season, he was finally sold to Vitesse Arnhem. He has since expressed regret at his behaviour, stating that “the situation could’ve been handled differently”.
#2 Dimitar Berbatov at Tottenham Hotspur, 2008
When Spurs fans become annoyed at the constant linking of their top stars with Manchester United, it’s not without good reason and probably stems back to this nasty incident a few years ago.
After Dimitar Berbatov had spent two seasons at Spurs – scoring 23 goals in both – United began sniffing around the star striker, with Red Devils boss Sir Alex Ferguson outright claiming that his side would likely sign the Bulgarian in the summer of 2008.
Naturally, Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy – as well as the Spurs fans – were furious with this. Levy reported United to the FA for making an illegal approach to the player and then refused steadfastly to enter into any negotiations with Ferguson’s side for the player.
Unfortunately for Spurs, they hadn’t reckoned on Berbatov’s wish to play for United, at the time considered a far more successful and desirable club.
As 2008/09 started, the clearly unsettled player was named on the bench in Tottenham’s first game against Middlesbrough and then outright refused to travel to matches against Sunderland and Chelsea, causing Spurs to fine him a weeks’ wages.
When the club realised he probably didn’t care, they finally relented and sold him to United for £30.75m. Player power had earned another victory.
#3 Dimitri Payet at West Ham, 2017
French set-piece expert Dimitri Payet became infamous in January 2017 when he went on strike in an attempt to force through a move from West Ham to Marseille, the club that had sold him to the Hammers in the first place.
It wasn’t just the strike that soured him in the eyes of West Ham fans – it had a lot to do with the fact that he’d only signed a mega-money £125k per week contract eleven months earlier.
Of course, at that point, Payet and West Ham hadn’t counted on the Frenchman becoming one of the Premier League’s most well-admired players, as well as becoming one of the surprise stars of that summer’s Euro 2016 tournament.
They also hadn’t counted on Marseille receiving new financial backers; supposedly, Payet had only been sold to West Ham due to the French side’s struggling finances, and he hadn’t really wanted to move.
And so when Marseille made their move and were told the player wasn’t for sale, Payet threw his toys out of the pram and said he’d never kick another ball for the Hammers.
He was dropped from their upcoming match with Crystal Palace and headed home, and eventually, West Ham caved when they realised they had no choice. They did receive £25m, though – making a profit of around £14m on the French star.
#4 William Gallas at Chelsea, 2006
Despite being a key part of Chelsea’s Premier League winning sides of 2004/05 and 2005/06, by the end of the latter season, William Gallas had seemingly had enough with life at Stamford Bridge.
Feeling he was underpaid and being played out of position at left-back, Gallas asked for a move to Italy’s Serie A but his request was denied and so he took matters into his own hands.
He refused to play in the FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool before changing his mind and subsequently having a stinker in the game, and his relations at the club became so bad that when 2006/07 began, the word from Chelsea was that the Frenchman was threatening to score own goals if he had to play for the Blues again.
Gallas denied the accusations, but couldn’t erase the stench around his name at Stamford Bridge and less than a month into the season, he got his move.
He was used as a makeweight in the transfer of the equally controversial Ashley Cole from Arsenal to Chelsea, going the opposite way to the Emirates. PFA boss Gordon Taylor stated that “the whole episode left a bad taste in the mouth” and he wasn’t wrong.
#5 Leonardo Ulloa at Leicester City, 2017
Riyad Mahrez isn’t the first Leicester player to go on strike to seek a move – his teammate Leonardo Ulloa attempted to do the same in January 2017, just months after helping the Foxes to their incredible Premier League title triumph in 2015/16.
In this case, Ulloa felt that he wasn’t receiving a fair chance at first-team football, having fallen behind not just Jamie Vardy and Shinji Okazaki, but new signings Ahmed Musa and Islam Slimani in the pecking order.
Ulloa wanted a move to relegation-threatened Sunderland, but with Leicester going through a patch of poor form and looking likely to be in trouble themselves, manager Claudio Ranieri refused to allow the deal.
Ulloa then stated that he felt “betrayed” by Ranieri, and would never play for Leicester again. That wasn’t exactly the case, though, as Ranieri ended up being fired a few weeks later.
Ulloa returned to the Leicester squad in April under new boss Craig Shakespeare, but unfortunately for the Argentine, he didn’t seem to be any higher up the pecking order.
He played just four more times in 2016/17 and despite signing a new contract in the summer, found himself being sent on loan to former club Brighton when new Leicester boss Claude Puel felt he was surplus to requirements.
