Leicester are looking to buy 3 or 4 new players

By Simon Webb and Manunphattr Dhanananphorn BANGKOK (Reuters) – English Premier League champions Leicester City will likely need to buy three or four players in the summer to compete in the European Champions League, vice-chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha told Reuters on Wednesday. He declined to say how much money he and his father, club owner and duty free tycoon Vichai, would spend to meet the challenge of a new competition and extra matches – but said there would be autographs. “We know we’re going to play a lot of games next season,” Aiyawatt said. “We need to add a few players… Maybe we’ll add three or four.” Manager Claudio Ranieri said any new signings would not be expensive superstars. “It’s not so important to bring in superstars, but to bring in players like ours who play with heart and soul,” Ranieri told reporters in Bangkok as the Thai-owned side begin an end-of-season tour. Leicester’s stunning success, built on a squad that before the start of the season included few household names, has captivated football lovers everywhere. Ranieri said Leicester had their eye on a few new players but bringing in big-money signings would destroy the team’s ethos. “I don’t want to lose the team, this is a family team and we have to find new brothers.” So far, Ranieri said none of his players have asked for a transfer. “It’s better for them to stay and have the Champions League experience,” he said. Next season, as well as defending their Premier League title, Leicester – who were playing in the second tier of English football when Vichai’s King Power Group took over in 2010 – will compete in the lucrative UEFA Champions League. Ranieri and star players including captain Wes Morgan and goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel were given a rock-star welcome at the Bangkok headquarters of King Power, the duty-free franchise that has made Vichai one of Thailand’s richest men. “Drinking sessions,” joked Morgan, when asked the secret to his team’s success. “That and all the times on the practice field and on the court when you learn to love and fight for each other.” Some of the team’s top stars were absent, including striker Jamie Vardy, who has just been named in England’s squad for the summer tournament Euro 2016. Premier League football is popular in the Southeast Asian nation, but most fans they follow more famous rivals such as Manchester United and Liverpool. Although the success has brought more Thai fans, the “Siam Foxes” support base remains relatively small and many follow the club as their second team. Only a few dozen fans showed up to greet the team’s early arrival at Bangkok’s main airport on Wednesday. Instead, around a quarter of a million ecstatic fans lined the streets of Leicester on Monday for the team’s victory parade. With the world’s media focus on the players, the club will be keen to avoid a repeat of last year’s end-of-season tour in Thailand, which saw the club sack three players for their roles in a racist sex tape filmed on tour. Ranieri said he plans to visit the temple of the Thai monk who blessed the team during their amazing rise. The “good energy” helped, he said. Vichai is a regular follower of Phra Prommangkalachan, the 63-year-old assistant abbot of Traimitr Temple in Bangkok, and took the monk to Britain to bless the stadium and the team. In a light-hearted press session, Ranieri sang and joked that instead of pizza, he’ll have to buy lobster for the team when they keep a clean sheet next season. “But one lobster for the whole team,” he said. (Editing by Dominic Evans)