No Vardy, no party for Chelsea; no Mahrez either

Claudio Ranieri, lovable ex-Chelsea Tinkerman and current manager of unlikely title candidates Leicester City brings some unfortunate tidings if you were interested in seeing either of the Foxes' stars Jamie Vardy or Riyad Mahrez in Chelsea blue this season.

"Nobody goes from Leicester. They have said they want to stay and fight until the end and build with me and the chairman and our fans a big Leicester."

"We are a solid team and we want to continue together with everybody."

Ranieri's never been one to skirt around major issues, and he posed a straightforward public challenge to the dynamic duo ahead of their match against AFC Bournemouth on Saturday.

"They are concentrating, they must be very professional. It is not important now the contract. They have their agents but it is another thing to play. For this reason they pay their agents to think about the contract. If they think about too many other things and not the real job, they will not continue to improve."

No doubt both Vardy and Mahrez are on several teams' shortlists for the upcoming transfer windows, especially the younger Mahrez who's having the sort of season we were expecting from another 24-year-old, named Eden Hazard.  Reportedly, Chelsea have been looking at Vardy for a few months now, with Michael Emenalo supposedly pushing for the one season wonder's acquisition.

Whether there's real Chelsea interest behind either player, Ranieri's words should dissuade the rumors for at least a few hours.  Though as we learned with the Stones saga over the summer, with the amount of money flowing into the league, basically no team ever is forced into selling for any amount of money nowadays.