Roma close to agreeing €38 million deal for Mahrez

Roma are reportedly close to finally signing Leicester City winger Riyad Mahrez after bumping up their offer to €38 million.

Leicester City boss Craig Shakespeare previously confirmed that the Foxes had rejected a bid for Mahrez from Roma earlier in the month. The bid was believed to be in the region of €25-30 million.

However, Roma returned with a much-improved offer and are expected to tie up a deal for the Algerian in the next few days. Various sources in Italy including Football Italia, Sky Sport Italia, and Corriere dello Sport have reported that a bid of €38 million has already been accepted by Leicester as it is close enough to their €40 million valuation of Mahrez.  

More specifically, the initial offer is expected to be €35 million and there will be €3 million in add-ons and bonuses. 

Mahrez is also pushing strongly for the move after missing out on a transfer to Arsenal. Arsene Wenger has seemingly convinced Alexis Sanchez to stay and that has led to the north London club cooling their interest in Mahrez. 

Roma, on the other hand, are still finding a replacement for Mohamed Salah, who left for Liverpool for a whopping €42 million. After previously flirting with the option of signing Manchester City's Samir Nasri, they are set to acquire their number one transfer target of the summer in Mahrez.