Leicester promises “amazing” signings
Leicester City's Thai vice-chairman Aiyawatt “Top” Srivaddhanaprabha vowed to make “amazing” signings in the close season.
|||London - Leicester City's Thai vice-chairman Aiyawatt “Top” Srivaddhanaprabha vowed Wednesday to make “amazing” signings in the close season as the Foxes prepare to defend their title and tackle the rigours of Champions League football.
Speaking in Bangkok at the start of a two-day tour by most of the Leicester City team, Top expressed his “extreme happiness” with a squad that shocked the sporting world by running away with the English Premier League title.
But “we will have some amazing players before the transfer market closes”, he vowed.
He later explained his billionaire family were not about to depart from the smart-spending formula that has served them well so far.
“We're not going to spend crazy money and ruin everything we have created,” he said.
He was speaking to reporters at a presentation of the league trophy at the King Power duty-free headquarters in downtown Bangkok.
Sitting next him was his father, club owner and billionaire founder of King Power, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, team captain Wes Morgan and manager Claudio Ranieri.
Vichai, a canny but quiet billionaire, said the Leicester miracle had so far been achieved on the cheap - he is believed to have bought the club for under $57 million, a figure dwarfed by the club's winnings.
“We are a small team and I spent small money,” he said. “We are like a family, I treat everyone in the team like my family.”
The team, who this season have gone from Premier League strugglers to champions, will face renewed threat of the better established top-tier sides next season.
Morgan said he was under no illusion about the task ahead, including the added challenge of a Champions League debut.
“Very big competitions we're playing next season... we need to train hard pre-season, make sure we're ready to go,” he told reporters.
Explaining the remarkable unity that saw Leicester win the league by 10 points and two games to spare, Morgan praised the leadership of the Thai owners, but also the friendship between the players.
The team had “many drinking sessions together, many times spent on the training field. Playing together in matches you learn to love each other and fight for each other,” he added.
AFP