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      in Soccer

      It’s a lucky escape for Mrs Kane… Man City ruined my marriage, says Riyad Mahrez’s ex Rita Johal

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      THE ex-wife of Man City star Riyad Mahrez has claimed he turned his back on her and their family after signing for the club.Today singer Rita Johal says the winger, who earns £160,000 a week, transformed from a down-to-earth dad who shopped in Asda into a “big head” after his move from Leicester City.
      Rita said: ‘Harry Kane’s wife probably had a lucky escape’Credit: Nick Obank – The Sun
      Rita said: ‘It was 2014 and I didn’t have a clue who he was. He wasn’t a big name then’Credit: Instagram
      And she thinks England ace Harry Kane’s wife Kate should breathe a sigh of relief now that his £160million transfer to Man City has collapsed.
      Rita, 28, exclusively told The Sun on Sunday: “I can’t comment on other people’s lives but moving there changed my husband.
      “Harry Kane’s wife probably had a lucky escape. Others should be careful.
      “Riyad let fame go to his head. He changed when he went to Manchester City.
      “But a footballer’s career is short-lived.
      “They should remain grounded and loyal to those they care for, even when they have moved up to a bigger club, because when it’s all over they will realise who’s truly there.”
      Rita told how she changed her faith for Muslim Riyad, stopped drinking alcohol and accepted a quiet life with the star when she first met him seven years ago.
      But when he moved north for £60million in 2018, she says Riyad, 30, turned cold towards her.

      Now he has moved on and is engaged to influencer Taylor Ward.
      Rita said: “The Riyad I met is a different person to the one he is now. He parties, he acts like a flash footballer.
      “I don’t hate him, that’s a strong word, but I am shocked and saddened by what he has done.
      “He suddenly left me, blaming the pressures of playing at Manchester City.
      “Now he spends all his time jetting around the place on holiday without a care in the world.”
      Rita, who has worked as a film extra in Kingsman: The Secret Service, and Cinderella, was walking in Oxford Street in her home city of London when Riyad tapped on her shoulder.
      She said: “It was 2014 and I didn’t have a clue who he was. He wasn’t a big name then.
      “But he was charming and I liked him. He was lovely to me, constantly telling me I was beautiful, asking about my life, making me feel special.
      “He said he loved me and wanted me to have his children.”
      The pair became inseparable and just four months later they married in a secret ceremony.
      Rita said: “We had a small wedding at home.
      “I loved him, I wanted to do that. I changed the way I was for him. I changed my faith.
      “I stopped drinking, as he didn’t drink. I loved his values. And I wanted a solid family life.
      “I wanted us to be strong together like my own parents and he felt the same way.
      “Our wedding was low key at home with two priests and our close family.
      “We were madly in love and we wanted to be together for ever.”
      They went on to have daughter Inaya in 2015.
      During the pregnancy, Rita suffered such bad pre-eclampsia she feared she would die and was wary of trying to have another child.
      But a year later the couple ­­welcomed a second daughter, Ayla.
      She said: “I was terrified about having more children but Riyad really wanted us to extend our family. I was scared but he kept reassuring me everything would be OK. We were overjoyed when Ayla was born.
      “At first we were just a normal family.
      “Riyad wasn’t flash. Yes, he was a footballer, but we were just your regular couple with our two little girls.
      “He went and played football, I was a stay-at-home mum. We would watch films together.”
      But in July 2018, Manchester City confirmed his signing on a five-year contract. The transfer fee of £60million made him the club’s then most expensive player.
      Rita says that is when their lives changed completely. Rita, now living in Beaconsfield, Bucks, said: “The loving, humble and caring Riyad disappeared.
      “He started to believe his own hype. He had yes men who told him what he wanted to hear. I started to see the change in him.
      “He stopped asking me how my day went and what I was going to do.
      “I think I became the boring wife at home and he had this glitzy lifestyle away from me.
      “He started to just ignore me.
      “Obviously I asked what was going on and he would say, ‘I am pressured, it is the football, I am stressed’.”
      Things went downhill further until the Manchester City ace moved out of the family home in 2019.
      Rita says: “It got worse and worse. Eventually he moved into our spare room.
      “And then one day he left and checked into a hotel.
      “He just left the family. He left us — he chose a new life.
      “I begged him to come home. He said he couldn’t because he felt so pressured because of football.
      “The truth is he was bored. It was dreadful for me.
      “His fans bullied me online and I felt like a failure.
      Rita and Riyad in happier times at the BT Sport Awards in 2017Credit: Splash News
      Riyad and Rita celebrate with the Premier League trophyCredit: Getty – Contributor
      “For a long time I didn’t have the strength to speak about it.
      “And then when I did, because I had publicised the fact he had walked out, I was the one accused of cheating.
      “There was a huge backlash on social media and I was bullied again, even though in my eyes I was the victim.”
      Last February Riyad started dating Taylor Ward, the daughter of Real Housewives Of Cheshire stars Dawn and Ashley Ward, himself a former footballer.
      Taylor, 23, moved into his luxury flat in December last year and earlier this year they bought a £2million home in Cheshire.
      And in June, the Algeria national team captain proposed with a £400,000 custom-made engagement ring.
      Rita, who is now dating 28-year-old music producer Fumez The Engineer, said: “I found out that he was going out with Taylor via Instagram, because people kept tagging me in photos of him.
      “He didn’t have the decency to tell the mother of his children that he had a new partner.
      “I found out that he was engaged to Taylor on Instagram too. I wish him all the happiness there is but he appears to live a different lifestyle now.
      “He stopped talking to me for a long time after he left. I don’t know why. I did nothing wrong.
      “He will mainly talk via my mum, which is ridiculous. It’s hurtful.
      “I just hope once the glitz of football has gone he doesn’t live to regret it.”
      Riyad and fiancée Taylor with a £400,000 ringCredit: Instagram
      Riyad in action playing for Man CityCredit: Getty
      England ace Harry Kane is now remaining at Spurs, pictured with wife KateCredit: Rex
      Man City star Riyad Mahrez split from his wife and is now dating RHOC star Dawn Ward’s daughter Taylor More

    • 175 Shares159 Views

      in Soccer

      After Jack Grealish’s dodgy trousers with Ellie Brown – here’s other footballers’ WORST outfits

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      JACK Grealish has hit the big time with his £100million transfer to Man City making him the priciest English player ever – but as the 25-year-old showed, he can still look like he’s wearing jumble sale cast-offs.But dodgy fashion is all part of the game.
      Jack Grealish wore some daring trousers on a night out with Ellie BrownCredit: AaronParfitt
      Sun stylist and TalkSport fashion expert Abby McHale calls foul on footie’s outfit outrages, dishing out yellow cards for mild offenders and red for the worst.
      RED CARD
      Tom Davies is known for his OTT looks but this was too muchCredit: Getty
      WHERE to begin . . .  Everton player Tom Davies is known for his OTT looks but I wonder if he might not have realised that he had stepped out in his dressing gown on this particular day.
      Maybe he couldn’t see straight through his sepia-tinted specs.
      Tom may love fashion but he has scored an own goal with this odd outfit from the dressing- up box.

      YELLOW CARD
      Glen Hoddle and Chris Waddle’s style hasn’t stood the test of timeCredit: Jon Bond -The Sun
      GLENN HODDLE and his Spurs and England teammate Chris Waddle wore wet-look jackets with mullet hairstyles in the photoshoot for their Diamond Lights single in 1987.
      Sadly their style has not stood the test of time – and nor has their music.
      YELLOW CARD
      Gareth Bale’s cut-off jeans weren’t even the worst thing about this outfitCredit: Solarpix
      IT seems Gareth Bale got dressed from the wrong ward-robe on this day back in 2013 when he chose a white cardigan, cut-off pedal pusher-style jeans and a man bag.
      Gareth, then 24, may have been preened to perfection – just look at those sideburns – after returning to his hotel following a training session for Real Madrid, but this outfit is in a white state.
      RED CARD
      Graelish and Paul Gascoigne share a flamboyant fashion senseCredit: Rex
      WHILE Jack Grealish has been compared to Paul Gascoigne for his natural flair on the pitch, it seems they share a taste for flamboyant fashion, too.
      Check out this garish suit that Gazza wore in 1996. He may have been playing for Glasgow Rangers at the time – but that doesn’t excuse him dressing up like a bagpipe.
      YELLOW CARD
      Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman and Jamie Redknapp were dubbed the Liverpool Spice Boys for these jacketsCredit: Getty
      THEY might look like the Men from Del Monte, but Liverpool’s hottest players Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman and Jamie Redknapp bravely wore these white Armani suits to the 1996 FA Cup final against Manchester United – and were dubbed the Liverpool Spice Boys.
      What a fashion statement. And then they went on to lose the match 1-0 and became a laughing stock.
      RED CARD
      Oli McBurnie’s tracksuit was made worse by being tucked into knee-length socks
      IT’S not just top-tier players who try to push the fashion boundaries, as Sheffield United star Oli McBurnie shows in this brown tracksuit with primary blue and red chevrons across it.
      He ought to pull his socks up when it comes to his outfit choices . . .  but not literally, like he has done here.
      RED CARD
      Wayne Rooney took short shorts to a whole new level in 2003
      WAYNE ROONEY showed the thigh is the limit with these short shorts, sucking on an extremely large lollipop while on holiday with Coleen in 2003.
      OK, he was only 17, but he looked more like a baby than a pro footballer.
      The only player to make two appearances in our fashion faux pas hall of fame, his dress sense has matured slightly, now that he is Derby’s manager.
      RED CARD
      Ashley Cole was no angel in an all-frills white suitCredit: Getty
      APPEARING with his then wife Cheryl at a National Lottery photocall back in 2006, Ashley Cole looked like he’d fallen from heaven in this all-white ensemble, with buttoned-down shirt, frills and a heart necklace.
      But sadly Ashley was no angel in the marriage, and the dynamic dressing duo split soon afterwards.
      RED CARD
      You wouldn’t know Paul Pogba was worth £90m in this outfitCredit: BackGrid
      YOU wouldn’t think Man United’s French midfielder Paul Pogba is worth around £90million when you see him in this outfit. Maybe it was spitting and the 28-year-old was sheltering from the rain – he was up north, after all, watching his teammates play Wigan in the FA Cup.
      My advice, if you’re living north of Watford Gap – invest in a brolly.
      RED CARD
      Hector Bellerin’s fashion experiment didn’t quite pay off two years agoCredit: Getty
      TOO cool for school, Arsenal’s Spanish defender Hector Bellerin often experiments with his clothing.
      However, here he looks like a cross between an extra in The Matrix and Zoolander.
      Maybe he ought to stick to what he knows best – while in a footie strip.
      YELLOW CARD
      The 2005 Man Utd squad didn’t look like a team of millionaire playersCredit: Eamon and James Clarke
      LOOKING like a sad Blazin’ Squad tribute act, the 2005 Manchester United team certainly didn’t seem like millionaire footballers – hands in pockets and wearing their stone-washed denims.
      We all have those fashion crossroads in life and at least Rio Ferdinand and Paul Scholes have improved their clobber since, regularly suited and booted as TV pundits.
      England star Jack Grealish spotted on celebrity dating app Raya More