Manchester City winger Riyad Mahrez has hilariously recalled the time he fled a trial at St Mirren on a bike to return to his native France.
The Premier League winner with City and Leicester City was due to spend two months in Scotland on trial back in 2009, however he cut it short due to the cold weather in the west coast. During his time in Renfrewshire he played four friendlies and scored seven goals, however it wasn't what Mahrez expected.
Mahrez, a four-time Premier League winner and 79-time capped Algerian international, took a while to get his career up and running. During his time in Scotland he said he faked an injury in order to return to France and get away from the cold that he called "abuse". On his return to France he signed for Le Havre before joining the Foxes for £400,000 in 2014. Speaking about his time he Scotland, he told the Man City website: "I stayed there for two months. So, I left school from January to March to make the trial which should've lasted a week or so.
"I had enough being there. Because I had nothing. I was training. Yes, I was training well, was playing good games.
"But, I didn't know what to expect from the future. When my agent called me, he said: 'Riyad, I bought your ticket, you take the bus, then the train to get to the airport'. He explained me how I didn't speak the language. You have to look, which stop? You go out, take the train which takes you to the airport. But I forgot my boots at the training camp.
"Because I didn't know I was leaving. These boots were precious to me, these were my only ones. So I said: 'No I have to get my shoes first.' And there was a bike in front of the hotel. I took it. I took his bike and went to the training centre, took my boots, went back to the hotel, dropped off the bike, took the bus and the train towards the airport. Finally, I got back to Paris. I'd had enough. It drove me crazy, Scotland. It was cold. It was abuse. It was snowing and everything..."
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