Leicester City coach Claudio Ranieri is sticking with Leicester’s title-winning blueprint and said the club would not be in the market for established, expensive talent to strengthen the English Premier League champions.
“We do not need the superstars,” Ranieri said on 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 US$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.
Photo: AP
However, it was achieved without the midweek demands of European soccer, which Leicester are to have next season after qualifying for the UEFA 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 AC for less than ￡500,000 pounds (then about US$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 do not 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,” he added.
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 — are to be out of the Champions League next season.
“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 do not start very well and stay outside the first 11, 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,” he added.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa yesterday set a women’s only world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds as she won the London Marathon, while Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe put a star-studded men’s field to the sword. For 28-year-old Assefa it was ample compensation for finishing runner-up in London and the Paris Olympics last year — especially as bitter Dutch rival, the Ethiopia-born Sifan Hassan, finished third. Assefa dropped Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei as the race, played out in blazing sunshine and with thousands lining the route, entered its business end. She came home almost three minutes clear of the Kenyan. Hassan, who beat her in
RSS