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Ranieri won’t sign superstars to strengthen Leicester squad
LEICESTER, England (AP) Claudio Ranieri is sticking with
Leicester’s title-winning blueprint and said the club won’t be in the market
for established, expensive talent to strengthen the Premier League champions.
“We don’t need the superstars,” Ranieri said Tuesday, a day after
the trophy was clinched with two games to spare. “I want to improve the squad
without big stars, but the right players.”
With a squad that cost less than $80 million to assemble,
Leicester completed one of the greatest transformations in sporting history.
From being relegation candidates and 5,000-1 outsiders for the title, Leicester
won the biggest prize in its 132-year history.
[ MORE: Game-by-game breakdown of title run ]
But it was achieved without the midweek demands of European
soccer, which Leicester will have next season after qualifying for the
Champions League for the first time.
No wonder, Ranieri is significantly lowering expectations for next
season.
“For us it is important to stay in the 10th position around there
and try to fight to go into Europe,” Ranieri said at Leicester’s modest
training ground.
Leicester’s eye for bargains has won admirers throughout the game.
Top-scorer Jamie Vardy was talent spotted while
playing outside England’s four professional leagues four years ago. The
striker’s 22 goals this season saw him voted player of the year by the Football
Writers’ Association this week.
Riyad Mahrez, who has scored 17 goals
and provided 11 assists in the title charge, won the same accolade in a vote by
his fellow professionals. The Algeria winger was an unknown when he joined
Leicester two years ago from second-tier French side Le Havre for less than
500,000 pounds (then about $820,000).
Ranieri’s biggest task in the summer transfer window could be
keeping hold of his players while trying to avoid upsetting the balance of his
squad with new recruits.
“It is too early to say we need five, six, seven or eight
players,” Ranieri said. “If one of my players says to me I want to go … I try
to keep him. I suggest to everybody this is a fantastic club.
“We won the title. We can do something good in our few years. If
you go away, you don’t know what happens, here you are the king … it is much
better to stay here one year more and look what happens. Then maybe you can go
anywhere.”
Although wealthier rivals could offer Leicester’s stars bigger
salaries, the central England club appears to offer more stability for now at a
time when Chelsea – and potentially Manchester United – will be out of the
Champions League next season.
[ VIDEO: Leicester players celebrate ]
“The Champions League is another important league to compare
yourself to the other champions,” Ranieri said in a public message to his
players. “Maybe you change team and go in the big teams, maybe you don’t start
very well and stay outside the first eleven, you slow down.
“It is important to choose very well for the lads because now, for
me as well, the lads are my sons. If they come to me I say this, `Be careful.’
Leicester in the long-term will go in a very high position.”
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