Leicester lose top scout to Arsenal
Ranieri’s Leicester heroes scoffing their way to title
ARSENAL have raided Leicester for highly-rated head of technical scouting Ben Wrigglesworth.
The 24-year- old has been on gardening leave since December because the Barclays Premier League leaders refused to let him join their title rivals until the transfer window had closed.
But with the two sides facing each other at the Emirates on Sunday, Wrigglesworth tweeted: ‘After three and a half unbelievable seasons, working with amazing people, I am now starting a new chapter. It was a very difficult decision, leaving Leicester, but I had to take an opportunity that doesn’t come round often.’
Leicester lost another member of their scouting team when Rob Mackenzie was taken by Tottenham last year. They still have head of recruitment Steve Walsh, credited with bringing in Jamie Vardy, N’Golo Kante and Riyad Mahrez.
CLAUDIO RANIERI has revealed the secrets of Leicester’s incredible success, stressing the importance of rest during the week, their solidarity as friends and ravenous eating.
The Leicester manager also disclosed how his side exceeded the Christmas points target set by the club’s Thai owners by 14 points and that he has told his squad an opportunity like this will never come around again.
Leicester are the bookmakers’ favourites for the Premier League title following Saturday’s 3-1 win at Manchester City and will travel to Arsenal on Sunday holding a five-point lead over Arsene Wenger’s team and Tottenham.
Ranieri told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera: ‘My idea is that first of all the players need to recover and then to train. In England the game is always high-intensity. It exhausts them.’
After Saturday matches, the 64-year-old gives his team Sundays off, followed by light training on Monday, hard work on Tuesday, then total rest on Wednesday. Thursday is back to high- energy, with Friday used for final touches and tactical work.
Ranieri added: ‘I do not think it’s a perfect formula. Football is not chemistry, there are no universal rules, you have to take the best from the group you have.’
Upon arrival in August after the sacking of Nigel Pearson, Ranieri studied videos of Leicester matches last season and saw he could use the confidence and work- rate shown by the team in their great escape from relegation.
He detected reticence to adopting an Italian style, so Ranieri talked little about tactics, focusing on fostering the excellent team ethic. He told the players they had his trust.
‘Everyone feels like they are participating, so playing badly means betraying the others,’ Ranieri said. ‘I have a player who comes every morning from Manchester, one travels from London. It can be done because the team allow it. This is what makes me proudest.’
He admits to being ‘frightened’ by their large appetites at the dinner table. ‘I’ve never seen players so starving! The first few times I was surprised, then I learned to smile. If they run so much, they can eat what they want.’
Former Juventus, Inter Milan and Roma manager Ranieri believes English players put more emphasis on having fun than their Italian counterparts. In Italy, training is a duty, he reasons, while in England there is joy in being healthy and doing a job they love.
‘It would be stupid to waste all that,’ he said. ‘When they train, they always put the same effort in as a match, I’ve never had to once tell off someone for being lazy.
‘They expect calm and respect in the dressing room, so if you want to be a prima donna they won’t forgive you for it.’
Ranieri recalls a similar environment at Catanzaro, a small-town club where he spent some of his last playing days. ‘That was a side like Leicester, a group of friends who lived together,’ he said.
Leicester have never come close to winning the title and Ranieri hopes to keep alive their burning desire to make history. ‘I always tell my players to find the fire within
themselves,’ he said. ‘A chance like this will never come round again. Seek that fire, don’t be ashamed of it. If anything, they demand to dream.’
Ranieri revealed Leicester chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha requested 24 points by Christmas, and instead got 38. That is some turnaround given Ranieri’s appointment — after Martin O’Neill and Guus Hiddink were linked with the job — was widely derided. ‘Was I 24th choice? I don’t think it’s true,’ he told Radio Anch’io Lo Sport. ‘Everyone compiles a list of names and then cuts it down to two or three before choosing the best. I talked about my ideas and I convinced them.
‘Leicester’s season? We’re doing well even though the other teams aren’t gelling. I tell my players: “It’s this year or never.” ‘In an era when money counts for everything, we give hope to everybody.’