Manchester City attacker Riyad Mahrez admits being rejected by Olympique Marseille was a heartbreaker.

Mahrez was all set to join Marseille as a teen before former president Jose Anigo pulled out of the deal.

He recalled on social media: "I was too happy! My heart club is Marseille. I liked PSG because it is my city too. But I wanted to go to Marseille too much! So I'm going. I trained with the CFA. The coach was Franck Passi. I trained well.

"Anigo went down to see in training. He took me into his office and said, 'I want you to sign'. In my head, I was in a movie. I am 18 years old. Eight months before I was in Sarcelles… He passed me Marseille shirts.

"I went home, I thought I was going to sign in Marseille! But three or four days later, he calls my agent and he says to him: 'We have a player who is the same here, we want him to be the one to pass, we don't want to get in the way of him.'

"The player was Billel Omrani."

Mahrez would eventually work his way to Le Havre before leaving France for Leicester City.