Claudio Ranieri agrees new four-year deal with Premier League champions Leicester City

New deal: Claudio Ranieri
ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP/Getty Images
Pa Sport10 August 2016

Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri has signed a new four-year contract to keep him at the club until June 2020.

The Italian, 64, replaced Nigel Pearson last summer and led the Foxes to a remarkable Premier League trophy success - the first top-flight title in the club's history.

He follows key players Jamie Vardy, Wes Morgan and Kasper Schmeichel in committing his future to Leicester.

The club said in a statement: "Leicester City Football Club is delighted to announce that its first-team manager, Claudio Ranieri, has signed a new contract with the Premier League champions."

Bookmakers had Ranieri as one of the favourites to be the first manager sacked shortly after his appointment, with Leicester among the relegation favourites and priced at 5,000-1 to win the Premier League.

But the Foxes lost just three league games all season to claim a shock title triumph by 10 points and the club will be one of the top seeds in the Champions League draw later this month.

Ranieri hopes last season can be just the start of the success and told the club's official website, lcfc.com: "From the moment I talked to the owners about their vision for Leicester City, I knew it was something I wanted to be part of for a long time.

"The energy that exists at this club - from the owners and the staff to the players and supporters - is something very special. I am very happy and proud that I will be part of it for years to come.

"Last season, that spirit and our hard work helped us to achieve something magical. If we can continue to work hard, maintain our passion and continue to fight with all our hearts, I am sure we can continue to be successful together."

Leicester vice-chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha said: "Twelve months ago, we brought to Leicester City a man whose knowledge and experience, we felt, could lead us into the next phase of our long-term plan.

"What he would go on to help us achieve, in the time we have achieved it, has been beyond anything we could have anticipated."

Last season's success was Ranieri's first top-flight league title of a managerial career spanning three decades after second-placed finishes with Chelsea, Juventus, Roma and Monaco.

He and Leicester will begin the defence of their crown against newly-promoted Hull at the KC Stadium on Saturday lunchtime.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in