Riyad Mahrez has made two Man City summer transfer decisions even easier

Man City might as well have issued a club statement alongside their summer tour squad yesterday.

Pep Guardiola has taken a 25-man squad to Tokyo for the first stage of the pre-season schedule, with Riyad Mahrez conspicuous in his absence.

While his teammates flew East, his omission signalled an imminent move to the Middle East that will bring a trophy-laden spell in Manchester to an end.

City would have liked to keep the Algerian ace as they look for consistency heading into the new campaign, but they accept that he wants to leave and that the fee represents good value for a player who is already 32 and gradually on the decline.

CITY SUMMER TOUR: A 30-hour trip and sweltering heat in Tokyo

Club chiefs will now accelerate plans to replace him once a move to Al Ahli is confirmed, but just as important is ensuring they don’t have another attacker to replace this summer.

While there was always some room for Mahrez to leave this summer, it feels like Bernardo Silva is now absolutely unsellable as City look to keep their balance across the precarious tightrope of evolving their squad without having to start again from scratch.

Ilkay Gundogan has already left and will soon be joined by Mahrez, while Joao Cancelo, Aymeric Laporte and Kyle Walker all face uncertain futures at the club.

The Treble winners do not want a mass clearout this summer, and while it is clear some players should be allowed to move on, replacing them with the right personnel is far easier said than done.

See, while it might seem straightforward in video games, it is a lot harder in principle. City not only want extremely talented individuals capable of winning everything on offer, they also need the right characters to complement the dressing room and