Ranieri dismisses Italy speculation

Leicester boss Claudio Ranieri has dismissed speculation he is being lined up to succeed Antonio Conte as Italy manager.

Conte is favourite to take over at Chelsea next season and has already held negotiations with Blues director Marina Granovskaia, according to Sky Italia.

The Daily Express claim Ranieri is the man being lined up to succeed him, but the Italian insists Leicester are his sole focus and reminded the assembled media his previous managerial role in international football with Greece ended in disaster.

When asked about the report, Ranieri said: “I could be glad but it’s only speculation. Now, I focus only on Leicester.

“Last time I managed a national team, it didn’t go so well. It’s only speculation.”

Leicester increased their lead at the top of the table to three points in midweek as they watched Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester City all lose on Wednesday following their 2-2 draw with West Brom on Tuesday.

With just 10 games to play, the pressure is ramping up on all teams involved in the title race but Ranieri insists Leicester must continue to focus on themselves and avoid getting hung up on the results of their rivals.

“My philosophy, and I try to put this in the mind of my players, is we have to think what we can do, not look at the others,” Ranieri said ahead of his side’s game against Watford on Saturday.

“It’s not important. We do our best, play well, and if someone is over us, we say well done. It is not important what the others do. It is important what we do and how we play.

“I am a strange man, because against Norwich we got three points but I wasn’t happy. Against West Brom, only one point, but I am happy.”

Ranieri revealed influential midfielder N’GoloKante returned to training on Friday from a hamstring injury and could feature against the Hornets.

Kante, who played every league game before missing Tuesday’s 2-2 draw with West Brom, had been expected to remain on the sidelines.

“N’GoloKante today made all of the training session and was good. Tomorrow I will decide. He could play,” said Ranieri.

There was a lighter moment at the press conference when Ranieri revealed one of the secrets to his success with the team this season – an imaginary bell he uses to get the players’ attention during training sessions.

“I tell them dilly-ding, dilly-dong, when they are sleeping. Then I bought them a little bell,” he said.

“From the beginning, when something was wrong, I said ‘dilly-ding, dilly-dong, wake up’ during training sessions. So on Christmas Day, I bought for the players a little bell.”