Leicester City manager Craig Shakespeare has hailed the professionalism of Riyad Mahrez.

The manager has come in with praise for the Algerian’s reactions after he was not included in the starting lineup for the recent match against Bournemouth. The Algerian has been struggling for form this season and is yet to open the account for the campaign. As a result, Shakespeare decided to drop him to the bench for the recent match against Bournemouth, which finished as a goalless draw. Even though Riyad Mahrez came on with 15 minutes remaining in the game, he was not expected to make a major difference. Yet, Shakespeare was impressed with the professionalism shown by the player.

Mahrez wanted to leave Leicester City at the start of the season, but he was unable to get his wish with none of the interested clubs like Barcelona and Chelsea ready to match the reported £ 50 million asking price of Leicester City. The Algerian wanted to leave the club even last season when Arsenal were heavily interested, but ended up staying at Leicester on the persuasion of former manager Claudio Ranieri. Hence, it was anticipated thatMahrez’ poor performances this season has been down to a lack of happiness. It does not appear to be the case based on the reasons additions from Shakespeare.

The 26-year-old has only made two assists in seven league appearances this season. He came up with figures of 17 goals and 11 assists during the 2015-16 season.“There are players behind him who have been chomping at the bit, I always say the team is bigger than any one individual, and Riyad's professionalism I have spoken about on many occasions. I thought him coming off the bench, you could see his quality and it is one where we need that type of response from players that get left out from time to time,” said Shakespeare.