Football, Rugby, UFC, GAA
All free when you join eir Broadband
Ranieri : Mahrez wants to stay
Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri is confident Riyad Mahrez will remain with the Premier League champions.
The Foxes have had to contend with countless rumours about some of their star players since their stunning Premier League success last season and suffered a blow when N'Golo Kante complete a £30million move to Chelsea at the weekend.
Mahrez has been linked with a move away from the club but Ranieri believes the PFA Player of the Year wants to remain at the King Power Stadium and is confident he will not follow Kante out the door.
"I am confident Mahrez will stay," Ranieri said. "I can wish only the best for Kante."
Ranieri had hoped to keep his title-winning squad together but he admits the club were left with little choice but to let Kante move on.
"I said at the beginning that I wanted to keep all my players but he pushed and said he wanted to go; I prefer not to keep because there were two or three teams and we couldn't keep him," Ranieri said.
"We tried to keep him but he wanted to go. It is okay for us. Last season, [Esteban] Cambiasso went and now it is Kante."
Having seen Jamie Vardy and Wes Morgan sign new contracts, Ranieri is hopeful that there will be no further exits this summer.
"At this moment I am very happy with all the squad. Wes Morgan has signed a new contract and I am very pleased because now, slowly, slowly, all the others will sign a new contract," the Italian added.
Soccer News
Sutton backs "firefighter" Allardyce
08:40 | TodayChris Sutton says Everton need to appoint "firefighter" Sam Allardyce to turn things around at Goodison Park.
Unsworth slams "sloppy" Everton after Europa League defeat
18:11 | 2/11/17Everton caretaker boss David Unsworth says "sloppy" defending caused the 3-0 defeat at Lyon that saw them to crash out of the Europa League.
Klopp's man-management of Lovren "poor", says Cunningham
13:04 | 2/11/17Kenny Cunningham says Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp showed "poor man-management" in his dealings with Dejan Lovren.
West Ham "can hurt" Liverpool on the counter, say Bilic
16:17 | 2/11/17West Ham boss Slaven Bilic says his side "can hurt" LIverpool with counter-attacking football in Saturday's Premier League game at the London Stadium.
Spurs keeper Lloris ruled out for two weeks
19:26 | 2/11/17Tottenham keeper Hugo Lloris has been ruled out for at least two weeks with a groin injury.
Top Stories
Callanan hints at staying on for 2018
10:26 | TodayGalway goalkeeper Colm Callanan has hinted that he will play on in 2018 because "there's not too much running" in his role.
Arsenal "woke up" in second half, says Wilshere
22:31 | 2/11/17Arsenal qualified for the knock-out stages of the Europa League after a goalless draw with Red Star Belgrade at the Emirates.
What's On Now
What’s in the eir Sport Pack?
We’ve got heartstopping action across 7 great sports channels, with 42 Premier League games, every Champions League game and every Europa League game, as well as UFC, Allianz Leagues GAA, Golf, F1 and much more.
