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Hot Football Transfer Gossip: The four Leicester players 'who got Ranieri sacked', Arsenal 'get Lacazette boost', Zlatan's Man Utd contract talks 'stall'

The volume of column inches dedicated to a manager sacking tends to depend on how popular that manager was. So Mike Phelan and Bob Bradley got a few pages each, Alan Pardew got about half a page and, two days after the departure of Claudio Ranieri, the supremely huggable former Leicester boss is still filling the back pages.

And that means, we are aghast to announce, more tales of player treachery. The Sun says members of Claudio’s mutinous squad met with Leicester’s owners FOUR times (caps are the Sun’s, obvs) to try to get the title-winning Italian sacked.

The tabloid says the “turncoats” had their first meeting back in December, by which point Ranieri had reportedly “lost the respect of the dressing room”.

The Times discloses that the four players who “sealed the fate” of Ranieri in a meeting with owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabh on Wednesday were Kasper Schmeichel, Wes Morgan, Marc Albrighton and Jamie Vardy. Could you imagine four more solid blokes you’d expect to back you up? Brutal.

READ MORE: Mourinho – Leicester should name stadium after Ranieri

READ MORE: Klopp compares Ranieri exit to Brexit and Trump

Ranners was subsequently sacked in a hotel at East Midlands airport on Thursday after returning from the club’s Champions League match in Seville, reports the Mail. So sad – that’s not even a good airport.

The Sun has swiftly set about fanning the flames of a potentially xenophobic backlash against Srivaddhanaprabh, alleging that the Thai businessman went on a “£500,000 wine spree in Mayfair” in the hours after he fired Ranieri – a fact confirmed, bizarrely, by West Ham director Karren Brady who apparently bumped into him in the wine shop.

Could Zlatan Ibrahimovic leave Man Utd?
Could Zlatan Ibrahimovic leave Man Utd?

Meanwhile, Jurgen Klopp has said Claudio’s departure is as “strange as Brexit and the election of Donald Trump” (Express). Trust good old Kloppy to be in tune with the vibe of the metropolitan liberal elite.

In actual transfer gossip, Arsenal might have better luck trying to sign Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette this summer than they did last, after the French club’s president announced he plans to make “major sales” at the end of the season (Metro).

The Gunners have also told contract rebels Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez they will “refuse to bow to their demands” despite the club having cash reserves of more than £100m (Mail). Gunners fans will no doubt be pleased to hear that the trusty old cash reserves will remain safe.

READ MORE: Gary Lineker leads Twitter reaction to Ranieri sacking

READ MORE: Gossip – Ranieri ‘knifed in back by players’, as Hiddink and Mancini linked

Another contract rebel could be Zlatan Ibrahimovic, whose talks over a new deal with Manchester United are said to have “stalled” because the Swede is concerned he may have to endure another year without Champions League football if he stays at Old Trafford (Mirror).

Elsewhere, Patrice Evra has revealed that his proposed January return to United was blocked by an unnamed member of Red Devils staff (Star), Arsenal are monitoring a 21-year-old Malaga midfielder called Pablo Fornals (Sun) and Premier League managers are in favour of bringing in retrospective bans for diving (Times). Hopefully it doesn’t go back too far or Adnan Januzaj might be ruled out for the whole of next season.

@darlingkevin