Leciester City boss Claudio Ranieri holds clear the air talks with wantaway Leonardo Ulloa
Striker makes uneasy truce with Italian coach after his agent's 'selfish liar' blast
CLAUDIO RANIERI has held clear-the-air talks with wantaway striker Leonardo Ulloa, following SunSport’s exclusive revelation of a rift between the pair.
The Leicester City duo were at loggerheads but have now declared an uneasy truce after the 30-year-old Argentinian made it clear it was his agent Horacio Rossi who branded Ranieri a “selfish liar,” during an explosive interview last week, rather than himself.
Rossi aimed a bitter broadside at Foxes director of football John Rudkin and Fifa world coach of the year Ranieri and blasted: “As the agent of Ulloa, I’m tired of the lies of Claudio Ranieri and Jon Rudkin.
“On Leicester’s pre-season tour of the United States, Ranieri promised Ulloa he would not buy another attacker. But he bought Islam Slimani and then promised Ulloa that he could leave Leicester and did not comply.
“Ranieri promised Ulloa that he would get a contract renewal and he did not fulfill it – so Ulloa has decided to officially request a transfer.
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“Yet now Ranieri, in a confused message to the press, says he believes Ulloa will remain in Leicester when it is not true.
“Ranieri is behaving like a selfish, egocentric egotist, who does not care about the suffering of a man who fought for him and helped win the Premier League title. The manager is destroying Ulloa’s career.”
SunSport can reveal the pair met yesterday morning to settle their differences and now believe they can move on and work together for the rest of the season.
Ranieri accepted Ulloa’s version of events and did not demand a public apology from the striker once he clarified Ulloa had not instructed his agent to launch the astonishing outburst prior to Sunday’s defeat at Southampton.
For his part, Ulloa has not removed his transfer request and still wants to leave for regular first team football. However the Foxes are adamant Ulloa has 18 months left on his contract and they expect him to honour that.
Leicester chiefs have already thrown out a £1.7million offer from La Liga side Alaves and want close to the £10million they paid Brighton for Ulloa before letting him leave.
But despite the impasse Ulloa remains an option for Ranieri until someone comes in with an offer Leicester find acceptable.