Leicester approached former boss Claudio Ranieri to return as manager before appointing Claude Puel

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Leicester, Nov 1: Former Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri turned down a chance to return as manager following the sacking of Craig Shakespeare.

Leicester appointed Ranieri in 2015 after sacking their former boss Nigel Pearson. And going against all the odds, the former Chelsea manager Ranieri surprisingly helped the Foxes to become a Premier League champion in his debut season.

However, the honeymoon turned out to be over just in the next season, when Ranieri failed to find the rhythm of the team just like league winning season and at some point of time took the team into the relegation zone.

The Leicester hierarchy took no time to end the relationship with the manager and gave the role to the assistant coach, Craig Shakespear for the time being.

Shakespear was appointed as the permanent boss from this season, however, Leicester' form have been up and down this season also. From their opening eight games, Leicester only picked up all three points on one occasion and failed to win a league match in their last six. And after their shaky start in the season, Shakespear was removed from the duty and the Foxes later appointed former Southampton boss Claude Puel as the new manager.

However, according to reports, the Leicester officials, offered the same job to Ranieri before Puel but the Italian rejected the opportunity.

As per Italian daily paper Corriere Dello Sport, Leicester held a meeting with Ranieri who is now a manager at Ligue 1 Nantes but the 66-year-old immediately turned down the job, insisting “no thanks”.

Ranieri is presently flying high once more, with his minnow Nantes side who are surprisingly sitting fifth in the Ligue 1 table, only nine points adrift of leaders Paris Saint-Germain.