Riyad Mahrez has stated his desire to retire from football at Manchester City.

But the Algeria international insisted he isn’t considering hanging his boots up anytime soon.

It comes after the talismanic attacker put pen to paper on a fresh contract at the Etihad Stadium in July, which is scheduled to keep him at the club until 2025.

As a result, the 2022/23 campaign represents the ninth term of his career in England, following his move to Leicester City in 2014 before his City switch to in 2018.

Since swapping the King Power Stadium for the Etihad, the 31-year-old has lifted eight major honours and scored 63 goals.    

And after immense success at the Club, Mahrez explained how it’s his aspiration to end his playing days in Pep Guardiola’s side.   

“I definitely want to finish my career at City and play as long as I can. I think I can still play for a long time. We’ll see what the future holds after football,” he said.

“I don’t know. I’m still thinking. I love football so it’ll be difficult to come out of it.”

Mahrez’s career has seen him operate in the French four tier, Ligue 2, Championship, Premier League and Champions League.

Alongside his impressive journey to Europe’s elite football competition, he also lifted the 2019 AFCON title with Algeria while being named African Footballer of the Year in 2016.

And the midfield maestro explained how his hard work, in conjunction with his decision to totally concentrate on his craft as a teenager, paid off.

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“Yeah, I always wanted to be successful in football, that was my only target,” Mahrez continued.

“Some people want to be successful in a few things, for me the only thing was football. I left school at 17 and went 100% on football, I tried to give it my all and fortunately I made it.

“It wasn’t easy, it still isn’t, but you have to make a lot of sacrifices. At the end, when you do everything, it’s your destiny.”