Its up to Kante to stay or go, Ranieri quips

TRANSFER TITTLE-TATTLE with John Kyanda/Hot 96/@johnkyanda

Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri says N’Golo Kante’s future is in his hands after he was offered a new contract. Kante, starred as the Foxes won the Premier League last season, and represented France at Euro 2016.

However, the defensive midfielder has been heavily tipped to leave the King Power Stadium, with Chelsea reported to have made a £27m bid.

The premier league champions offered the French man a new deal before the Euros and the Italian manager now admits a lot of big teams are interested.

Kante was named on the six-man shortlist for the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award last season – which was won by team-mate Riyad Mahrez.

Leicester kept striker Jamie Vardy earlier this summer after he rejected a move to Arsenal and signed a new deal and have also added Nigerian international Ahmed Musa from CSKA Moscow to improve their attack.

ENGLAND

• Juan Mata, Marouane Fellaini and Daley Blind will be handed Manchester United lifelines by Jose Mourinho in pre-season.
• Manchester City are considering testing Bayern Munich’s resolve for Germany wonder-kid Joshua Kimmich. Munich rate him highly and are likely to only consider bids starting at £20million.
• The Citizens have also made a £53m bid for 22-year-old Everton and England centre-back John Stones.
• Tottenham yet to make approach for Mario Gotze as Mauricio Pochettino eyes move for Newcastle midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum.
• Spurs are also considering a move for Barcelona winger Cristian Tello, after he rejected a move to Liverpool.
• Chelsea vow to keep hold of star Nemanja Matic despite interest in the midfielder from both Manchester United and Juventus
• Liverpool are to resolve Joe Allen’s future after Welsh midfielder’s starring role for his country at Euro 2016
• Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is chasing Wolfsburg midfielder Julian Draxler, in a £55m move.
• The Gunners are also ready to make a £42m offer for 25-year-old France and Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette.
• Turkish club Besiktas want 30-year-old Manchester City defender Aleksandar Kolarov
• Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel will be presented as a Fenerbahce player on Friday, the Turkish side have confirmed.

ITALY

• Juventus are set to sign Mehdi Benatia from Bayern Munich as the Moroccan heads to Turin for a medical ahead of proposed move.
• Besiktas president Fikret Orman is still waiting to hear back from Mario Gomez as he hopes to welcome him back to the Turkish champions next season.
• Germany international Gomez excelled on a season-long loan from Fiorentina last term, scoring 26 goals in their successful title bid.
• Argentine midfielder Roberto Pereyra is eyeing an immediate exit from Juventus to join Serie A rivals Napoli, according to his agent Sergio Furlan.
• Juventus are lining up a move for out-of-favour Barcelona midfielder Alex Song.

SPAIN

• Arda Turan wants to stay at Barcelona and fight for his place rather than move to another league, according to the player’s agent. The Turkey midfielder struggled to make an impact at Barça last season after joining from Atlético Madrid. He was unable to play for the first half of the season because of Barcelona’s transfer embargo and when finally eligible, he featured for only 810 minutes in the league, scoring two goals and providing four assists.
• Danilo says there is no chance of him leaving Real Madrid this summer.
• Barcelona are closing in on the signing of Luciano Vietto. Manager Luis Enrique has been keen to sign a forward to act as back-up for Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar for several months and he has identified Vietto as an ideal target.
• Real Sociedad held talks with Sevilla to discuss the possibility of signing Everton target Fernando Llorente, reports Cadena Ser.
• Llorente could leave the Europa League champions this summer and Everton are believed to be on his trail.

Sources: BBC, Sky Sports,The Guardian, ESPN Soccernet And DailyMail