Sportskeeda Football Awards 2016: 10 best footballers of the year 2016 - Part 1 - #10 to #6

#6 Riyad Mahrez

What a player. What a team. What a fairytale. Thank you Leicester City!

Leicester City won the Premier League. Period.

The first line was enough to highlight what has been one of the biggest sporting achievements of all time and definitely the biggest in the last decade or so. Even Portugal winning Euro 2016 was not as big as this.

And the fairytale would never have been possible without the genius of the fleet-footed Algerian. Here is an achievement that should not be weighed down by the use of heavy-handed words. They won it fair and square and have etched their name in the history books forever.

Many permutations and combinations can be contemplated but the bottom line remains – Mahrez was their best player during that season and if not for his heroics on many occasions, we might not have witnessed what we did.

And despite having a rather dismal second half of the year, it is that achievement in itself that guarantees him a place on this list.