DEAR Riyad, 

How are you holding up, buddy? Life can be tough sometimes and few have it worse than you at the moment. Next time I pass a homeless person asking me to “spare a few pennies” or I bump into someone heading to a food bank or I meet a junior doctor complaining about “stress,” I’ll tell them to stop being so self-centred. At least they don’t have it as bad as you.

Few of us can comprehend what it must be like to have your dream move snatched from your grasp in such cruel fashion. Well, at least your dream move since you stopped dreaming about moving to Arsenal or was it Barcelona? It’s hard to keep track with a dreamer like you. It’s little wonder you’re not in the right frame of mind to undertake the onerous task of kicking a ball about for 90 minutes.

Leicester would be nothing without you. But you would, of course, still have reached these dizzy heights without them. I mean, I know Arsene Wenger looked at you while you were still in the French Second Division but took a pass, but someone would have taken a chance on you. And no doubt they would have nurtured you and helped you improve and you still would have won the Premier League and become PFA Player of the Year.

You owe Leicester nothing. They owe all the glory of that unexpected title success to you. I know it’s only a year ago since “The Experts” were telling us that that title success was all down to Claudio Ranieri WHO ABSOLUTELY SHOULD NOT BE SACKED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES WHATSOEVER but what do “The Experts” know, eh?

I know that Jamie Vardy scored 24 goals in that title-winning season and I know that Kasper Schmeichel kept 15 clean sheets, ably protected by the likes of Wes Morgan and Robert Huth. And I know other players like Leonardo Ulloa and even Nathan Dyer chipped in with crucial goals that kept the team’s momentum going. I know that Leicester’s form fell apart when N’Golo Kante left, but it was you, not those other journeymen, who really won that title and the club should give you the rewards you deserve. It’s not you that’s being selfish, it’s Leicester.

I can only guess how disgusted you must have been 18 months ago when the club forced you to sign a four-year deal worth £100,000 a week. That disgust must have only been compounded when the club’s chairman handed over the keys to a brand new BMW I8, worth a paltry £105,000 as a “reward,” if that’s what you can call it, for winning the Premier League title. These people simply have no respect.

Furthermore, it’s outrageous that they let Kante leave simply because Chelsea met his release clause but they won’t let you leave simply because you don’t have a release clause. It’s outrageous they let Danny Drinkwater leave just because they felt they’d received a fair offer for him and thought they’d signed a replacement in Adrien Silva, but they won’t let you go despite the fact their valuation of you has not been met and no replacement could have been signed in time.

And then there is that valuation. How dare Leicester expect £95 million for you? I mean that’s nearly 70 per cent of the fee Barcelona paid Liverpool for Phillipe Coutinho little more than three weeks ago. How could Leicester possibly expect so much for you when you have scored a goal every 3.7 games for them — exactly like Coutinho did for Liverpool?

It’s almost as if Leicester think, just because you’ve scored more goals (30 to 28) and created more assists (21 to 18) than the Brazilian over the last two-and-a-half seasons, that somehow you might be worth more than half what he is. Then of course there’s your Premier League winner’s medal and your PFA Player of the Year and African Player of the Year awards. All irrelevant, I know, but those greedy bastards at Leicester no doubt think they justify the grossly inflated price tag they have slapped on you. 

You are of course absolutely right not to turn up to training without explanation this week. It’s not at all unprofessional and it’s certainly not disrespectful to your teammates, Claude Puel or the club’s owners. Nor is it disrespectful to the club’s fans who save up their hard-earned cash to buy season tickets and shirts with your name on for their kids — cash that indirectly pays your wages. None of them will ever understand the mental trauma you are currently suffering. If the club fines you for “breach of contract,” well that will say so much more about their lack of respect for you than your unenforced absence says about your lack of respect for them.

Riyad, you’ve outgrown Leicester. You dream of playing for a “big” club like Manchester City or is it Arsenal? I forget. You dream of playing in the Champions League and you’ve shown you are a player worthy of that stage. That Leicester are expecting a “big” fee, a Champions League fee, for you simply makes no sense at all, does it?

Anyway, keep your head up, pal. We’re all rooting for you.

Yours, Roger Domeneghetti