Riyad Mahrez’s Leicester teammates have reportedly all urged him to stay with the club this season, amid interest from Arsenal and a host of other clubs.

Mahrez made a statement earlier in the summer that he wanted to leave Leicester and felt that he should be allowed to go. However, still currently at the King Power Stadium with nine days left of the transfer window, Mahrez’s teammates have had their say on his future.

Danny Simpson confirmed that the players are all hoping he’ll stay. After watching Mahrez bag two assists in his latest Leicester match, he said to Yahoo! Sport: “The lads want him here. There’s a few weeks to go and, hopefully, he stays with us and does that for the rest of the season.”

Simpson wasn’t the only one to make a statement about Mahrez after the game. Matty James told reporters: “Riyad has been very respectful. He might have his own ambitions but, ultimately, he is a Leicester player. You have to let the hierarchy take care of it. All the lads want him here.”

It’s no surprise that the players want him around, especially after what he did during Leicester’s title-winning season, scoring 17 times and assisting 11 in 37 league games in 2015/16.

Arsenal were linked with Mahrez earlier in the window, in particular after comments from Arsène Wenger about the player on Bein Sports about how much he rated the Algerian.

However, the rumours have since died down as there has been no evidence of a bid from the Gunners, or any of the other big English clubs for that matter. The Arsenal links were seemingly put to bed by Wenger after he clarified that despite rating Mahrez, he feels the Gunners already have players in the same mould.

If Arsenal and the rest of the big six continue to stay silent on Mahrez, the most likely option is that he’ll remain with the Midlands club.