Leicester boss Claudio Ranieri: I don’t care if Jamie Vardy doesn’t score

CLAUDIO RANIERI claims he doesn’t care that Jamie Vardy has stopped scoring.

Vardy faces Crystal Palace today looking to avoid a 10th straight blank for club and country.

This time last season Vardy had scored in seven games in a row on his way to 25 for the season for the champions.

But after giving his star striker a pep talk, Ranieri claims there is more to his game than just goals.

“He is very close to scoring because the more time that passes, the closer a goal gets,” said Ranieri.

“I said to him that ‘it’s not important if you score’.

“I know goalscorers want to score and without a goal they feel they’re no good – but that’s not true.

“‘Now in football everybody must fight, run and be part of the team. A long time ago, a goalscorer had to score.

“Not now. Now everybody must work.”

So far this season Vardy has only scored twice in the league with his last goal coming at Liverpool on September 10.

“This is the life of a goalscorer,” said Ranieri.

“It’s important he continues to fight. That’s okay, he had a very good match on Tuesday against Copenhagen.

“His attitude is always the same, I see him in training and the matches and he is always the same, always determined.”

Full-back Christian Fuchs has signed a new three-year contract while Ranieri is weighing up a January move for £14m-rated Utrecht striker Sebastien Haller.

The 22-year-old Frenchman scored 24 goals in 40 games last season, attracting interest from Everton, Crystal Palace and Southampton.

Haller is under contract until 2019 and turned down a move to China in the summer.

But Leicester have watched him more than once this season and could make a move in the new year.