Claudio Ranieri believes Leicester City will not be vulnerable to losing Danny Drinkwater in the same way as they were with N’Golo Kanté because the England international’s new contract does not include a release clause.
Drinkwater returns to Old Trafford on Saturday, following speculation this week that Manchester United could try to re-sign him, but Ranieri is relaxed about any interest in the midfielder because of the terms of the player’s new five-year deal.
“This is a good process to improve because one year ago nobody was asking about our players,” Ranieri said, reflecting on the reports about Drinkwater. “Now there are big, big teams [interested] and my players must be very proud of this but maintain their way. Then if something happens, it’s OK. But [Drinkwater] signed a new contract and I think he doesn’t have a clause, so if Manchester United want him it is OK. We don’t want to sell anybody. We want to keep our players and we showed this. We only lose Kanté because he had a clause but no other player we lost. We want to keep all the players and maybe improve the squad.”
Ranieri will set up his side to attack at United, with Islam Slimani, Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez returning to the starting lineup after being rested in the week, but Kasper Schmeichel is extremely doubtful after picking up an injury in training. Leicester hope Schmeichel will be in a position to return to training on Monday with a view to starting against Porto in the Champions League on Tuesday. Ron-Robert Zieler, who was signed from Hannover in the summer and has started in the last two matches, will continue to deputise if Schmeichel is sidelined. “He made a very good campaign in the Bundesliga, for this reason we spent money for him and we are happy with him,” Ranieri said.
