Signature Sundays - Mahrez Barely Tries

Mixing it up this week with a soccer auto.  I know, I know, it's a good way to alienate a significant portion of my readers but what can I say?  I really enjoy Premier League soccer.

When Topps produced a Stadium Club set featuring players from the league last year I was pumped.  I picked up a hobby box, which is a rarity for me, and it was a fun little set.  At just 100 cards deep a box gave me a complete set, so there really wasn't any incentive for me to buy any more.  Now that it's been out a while interest as waned, as usual, and I was able to land another auto from the set for cheap coin on eBay this summer:

I thought this was a pretty awesome autograph to get, given that Mahrez and Leicester City were the unlikely champions of English football at the time this set was printed up!  Riyad joined Leicester City when they were still in the Champions League, which they won in his first season with the club, earning a promotion to the Premier League.

In just their second season after promotion, Leicester City became the unlikely darlings in the eyes of the sporting world when they won it all in 2015-16.  Mahrez was a big part of that, as he and teammate Jamie Vardy formed a dual scoring threat that was largely responsible for propelling The Foxes to the top of the table.  He even won the PFA Players' Player of the Year Award (it sounds ridiculous but it is a real award), as top player in English football.

So, knowing all of that, what do you think I paid for this autograph?

$1.25.  Seems odd to me.  The Premier League is wildly popular overseas, and this autograph of one of the top players in the entire league when the set was released was had for basically pocket change.  I guess maybe just because trading cards are primarily a North American thing?

Or maybe it's because it's a sticker auto (they all are), and because when it comes to the autograph itself Mahrez barely tried?  Either way, I think it's a cool card that will always serve in my collection as a reminder of Leicester City's Cinderella season...