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Claudio Ranieri signs extension at Leicester City

“We know we upset the applecart last season with what we did and we are expecting a reaction from the top teams”, King said.

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Reports in France on Wednesday claimed that Arsenal offered £35 million for a player purchased from Le Havre in 2014 for £375,000, although that was denied by both clubs.

The Italian led Leicester to their first ever top-flight title last season, having begun as the rank outsiders at 5,000-to-1 odds.

He added: “I don’t know, who is interested? What he would go on to help us achieve, in the time we have achieved it, has been beyond anything we could have anticipated”, Srivaddhanaprabha said in the same statement.

Vardy’s 24 goals, including a Premier League record of a goal in 11 straight matches, combined with 17 for Mahrez, helped Leicester stun the favourites and maintain their nerve in the run-in.

Leicester have bought six new players thus far, efficiently going about their business; Nampalys Mendy appears a bespoke replacement for Kante, while Ahmed Musa, purchased from CSKA Moscow, possesses a similar searing pace to Vardy.

But Ranieri believes his spearhead will now face a more cynical approach from the league’s defenders. We have to restart everything.

“They can not make a mistake another year, they lost one season in the life of these big teams”.

Claudio Ranieri was so at pains to play down a repeat of last season’s incredible triumph that he likened it to the Extra-Terrestrial from Steven Spielberg’s 1982 movie landing in central London.

However, this summer has seen N’Golo Kante move to Chelsea and the future of Riyad Mahrez at the club also seems uncertain after it emerged today in the Independent that Arsenal have had a £30 million bid for the player rejected. We want to stay strong, we know it will be more hard, because all the teams are awaiting us.

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Even though he said that his team’s chances of defending their title are even slimmer than they were this time last campaign, he commented on the lack of pressure in comparison to last season. “We have got that, not just from Manchester United, but from Manchester City and Chelsea too. Maybe we put the ground floor to stay more solid and then we start to go up”.

Can Leicester continue the party this season