Riyad Mahrez

Location: Sarcelles, France

This is the house were young Riyad grew up in Sarcelles. He is coming from a very poor family. Sarcelles is located close to Paris and is known for its violence, drug dealing, immigrant community and chronic unemployment. We bet he's living in a bigger house these days. (Image: SoFoot.com)

Riyad Mahrez was born in Sarcelles in February 1991. Despite the fact that he is born in France, he decided to play for the Algerian national team. But.. that came later. First he started his football career at the youth academy of AAS Sarcelles. In 2009 he made the step to Quimper Carnouaille FC. At Quimper the winger played in the Championnat National 3, but it was obvious that the kid had too much talent to play in this division. After one season he moved to Le Havre, where he became one of the biggest talents of the Ligue 2. Fun fact: he never made it to the highest French league, the Ligue 1. In 2014 he signed already at Leicester City, who paid a fee of 0.5 Million Euro (0.4 Million Pound) to take him to England. Leicester City was still playing in the Championship back then, but we all know what happened next. First The Foxes won the Championship in 2013-2014, and then they also won the Premier League in 2015-2016 in a season that looked like a modern fairy tail. The first Premier League victory of the club ever! In the same season Mahrez won the PFA Player Of The Year Award, so you can guess that he played a huge role in winning the title. In July 2018 the winger signed a contract at Manchester City for five seasons. The Citizens paid a stunning fee of 68 Million Euro (60 Million Pound) to get him, which made him the most expensive African footballer ever and the most expensive signing Manchester City ever did. He made his debut for the Citizens in August 2018, when City defeated Chelsea with 2-0 for the FA Community Shield.