Claudio Ranieri urges Leicester heroes Riyad Mahrez and N'Golo Kante to stay for Champions League adventure

'If they are clever, they will stay,' says Italian manager as Foxes lift historic Premier League title and prepare for European football next season

Leicester's Riyad Mahrez gets his hands on the Premier League trophy (Getty)

Claudio Ranieri has reiterated his plea with Riyad Mahrez and N’Golo Kante to stay with Leicester City as the champions were presented with the Premier League trophy on Saturday evening.

Jamie Vardy, who signed a lucrative new contract with the Foxes in February, scored a brace on his return from suspension which bookended a neat Andy King strike as Leicester swept Everton aside at a raucous King Power Stadium.

Mahrez, the PFA Player of the Year, and Kante, who signed from Caen for £5.6m last summer, are considered most likely to attract attention among Ranieri's squad with Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal linked with moves for both last week.

“If they are intelligent, they stay with us another year,” the Italian said, before Kasper Schmeichel and Christian Fuchs stormed the media suite in Leicester, dousing their manager in champagne.

“They know the Champions League is very difficult. Then after this next experience they can go. If they ask me something, I say 'stay with me'.

“But if somebody comes to me and says 'I'd like to go' then go because I want only happy players with me.”

The 64-year-old insisted he would enjoy only a modest celebration with family and friends after ending a 28-year hunt for major silverware.

Admitting to trying - and failing - to “be strong without emotion” during a pre-match performance from tenor Andrea Bocelli, this title win has restored Ranieri’s reputation among his peers and banished the ghosts of his ill-fated spell with Greece.

“When I was young, I think no more than 10 times I went to the disco but not now,” he chuckled, still drying his brow after the raid by Schmeichel and Fuchs.

Ranieri has previously stated that Leicester, champions for the first time in their 132-year existence, will only aspire towards a top-half finish next season, heaping the pressure back onto the traditional elite of the English game.

Quizzed on his side’s chances of defending their title, however, the Roman was bullish, backing his Premier League conquerors to continue their excellent form into the new campaign.

“I don't know next season what happens because this has been a magic season, but you imagine if Leicester start well again … what happens? I don't know.

“Now, let me think only of this last match [against Chelsea], let me go to the sea, recharge my batteries and we restart next season with the same ambition, with the same humility, with the same feeling.”

Meanwhile, Roberto Martinez, the beleaguered Everton manager, raged at his side’s struggles in handling the carnival atmosphere in the East Midlands.

In sharp contrast with Ranieri, the Spaniard is expected to be relieved of his duties in the summer after a year of stagnation dampened pre-season aspirations of qualifying for European football. Kevin Mirallas's 88th-minute finish proved only a consolation on another torrid afternoon for Martinez's side.

“I think first and foremost it is just a day for Leicester City and to celebrate them,” he said. “From our point of view, it was a very, very disappointing day. We never turned up, we never understood what was needed.

“I think we felt that we were part of a celebration - it was a footballing occasion that you could just concentrate on what you were doing on the ball. We looked like a group of individuals. We never showed the basics that you need in any performance.”