Riyad Mahrez: Paul Potts, JLS & a getaway bike – the story behind Man City winger’s St Mirren trial

After scoring seven goals in four games without any sign of a contract, Mahrez’s patience wore thin.

In an interview with L’Equipe, external, the City man revealed he fled Scotland by taking a bike from his hotel before getting a train to the airport.

Mahrez doesn’t reflect on his time in Paisley too fondly, describing the Scottish weather as “abuse” – to the point he feigned injury to avoid training. But despite that, he looks back on that time as defining in his career.

“I really improved physically,” he told Unscriptd, external. “When I came back to France, I had better movement. That helped me become the player I am now. Now it has become my strength.”

In the end, Longwell’s hands were tied. Scotland’s academy structure at the time meant Mahrez had to move up to the senior set-up on his 18th birthday – which came less than a month after his arrival.

That meant the final decision came down to the first-team management, who felt Mahrez didn’t boast the physical attributes to succeed in the Scottish game.

“You can criticise the club,” Longwell says. “But it’s so good to see someone like Riyad do so well by using an experience like that. He had a great attitude, but he just hadn’t physically developed.

“It’s pleasing to read that he benefited from the time we coached him. That’s great for my staff and the boys that played in that team. I just think it was a case of right place, wrong time.”

Mahrez would go on to sign for French sixth-tier side Quimper before joining Ligue 2 club Le Harve 12 months later. Four years on, Leicester sealed a £450,000 deal for his services.

“One day, I saw that a lad called Riyad Mahrez had signed for Leicester,” Duncan says. “I thought, ‘I know that boy!’. He was a great lad and a brilliant player with huge potential.

“If I depended on that sort of work for my income I might have pushed harder to get him a club, but I was too busy with my own business.”

So the moral of the story is that St Mirren are not to blame for missing the chance to sign Riyad Mahrez – instead, it’s the fault of Paul Potts and JLS.