adminLeicester man tears on his manager during his time at club, the team that pulled off a surprise victory in the 2016 Premier League. The former Argentine striker’s comments on the Offsiders podcast shed light on the tension and rift between the two.
“As a manager, he is brilliant; as a person, he’s a disaster. We were in Los Angeles; I had two offers from Premier League clubs that would have doubled my wages and let me play something that wasn’t happening at Leicester. Because yes, we’d won the league, but I wasn’t playing.
So I sat down with him and said: ‘Claudio, I’ve got these two offers to go elsewhere and earn more’. But he replied: ‘No, Leo, I want you to stay with me because I need you.
This year we’ll be in the Champions League, the league and the domestic cups; you’ll get much more playing time.’ So he told me they wouldn’t be signing anyone, but on the last day of the transfer window in England – bang – 30 million for Slimani.”
“So I told him I wasn’t having any of it; I went into his office and he told me he didn’t know about it, that it was a matter for the club. I had a right go at him.
He actually wanted me to stay because Slimani and Mahrez were due to leave mid-season for the Africa Cup of Nations.
When I realised that, I went to Ranieri and told him: ‘I’ll never play for you again, neither now nor in December when you’ll need me.’ Fromthat moment on, things started to go downhill.
It wasn’t Leicester who treated me badly, but Ranieri.I told him I didn’t care; I basically stopped training and started feeling discomfort in my quadriceps.
I stuck to my programme with the club but didn’t train. I spoke to the dressing room leaders, explaining that it wasn’t against them or a team issue, but that I didn’t want to play for that manager anymore and didn’t want anything more to do with it.”
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Abdulhafiz Teslim