Arsenal missed out on another Leicester City summer target once again after Riyad Mahrez recently signed a four-year, £25 million deal with the Foxes, ending months of speculations that the Armenian midfielder could exit the King Power Stadium this summer.
The deal, which will hold Mahrez until June 2020, does not have a release clause to prevent him from getting snatched by interested clubs until it expires, Caught Offside reported.
Arsenal head coach Arsene Wenger had been eyeing the Leicester duo of Mahrez and Jamie Vardy since the end of last term as the 66-year-old French manager wants to upgrade his attacking options for the 2016-2017 season.
Wenger is short on men up front with Olivier Giroud and Danny Welbeck both recuperating from separate injuries.
The Gunners submitted a £22 million for Vardy in June and was readily turned down by both the player and club as the defending English top flight champions intend to keep their frontline intact for the coming term.
Wenger's next target was Mahrez, and as it turned out, his proposal was rejected all over again by the Foxes.
Leicester head coach Claudio Ranieri actually lost one of his attackers this summer when N'Golo Kante decided to join rival club Chelsea for £39 million last month. It might be a wake-up call for Ranieri as he persuaded the squad to give Mahrez a contract extension this offseason.
"Leicester City Football Club is delighted to announce that Riyad Mahrez has signed a new contract, committing his future to the Foxes until June, 2020," the club said in an official statement, via Sun Sport.
"He joins the likes of Wes Morgan, Jamie Vardy, Kasper Schmeichel and Andy King in signing new deals with the Club this summer, bolstering Claudio Ranieri's squad for the Club's first ever Premier League title defence," the press release read.
Meanwhile, recent reports have emerged that Wenger could be looking at Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski and Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann as potential deadline day blockbuster signings as the boss continues his search for his ideal striker.
Furthermore, Arsenal had been in talks for Lyon forward Alexandre Lacazette for quite some time now, but there are still no official reports of the completion of the deal.
