Leicester City's PFA Player of the Year Riyad Mahrez has revealed that Claudio Ranieri tells his players 'be smart, you are foxes' before each and every Premier League encounter this season.

The Foxes could clinch an almighty Premier League title victory on Sunday if they manage to beat Louis van Gaal's Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Leicester's success story this season has been down to a combination of factors; the prolific form of Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy is one, the fighting team spirit that has seem them defy all odds is another, but Claudio Ranieri's relaxed approach to management and his ability to ride through the inevitable pressure has been awe-inspiring.

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“The manager lets us get on with it,” Mahrez said as quoted in the ​Mirror . “Except once at half-time against Newcastle. Then he shouted at us. Otherwise, he likes to laugh.





"In training, he has fun all the time. Less on match days. Then he is concentrated on the job. I try to joke with him, tell him he is late, laugh at his shoes, but even if he smiles, he says to me: 'Oh, oh, concentrate on the match.'

"His thing is to tell us: 'Be smart, you are foxes'. In Algeria we have the fennec fox as our national emblem. You have to be cunning.”





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Mahrez, who admitted he was initially against the prospect of moving to Leicester, won the PFA Player of the Year award after being voted for by the likes of John Terry.

The 25-year-old thoroughly deserved the accolade after scoring 17 league goals in 34 games for Leicester this season.

Speaking to ​L'Equipe about his pride for winning the award, Mahrez said:

“It made me really proud,

“I was expecting it a bit because everyone was saying I was going to get the vote but there is always a bit of doubt inside you. I still haven't won anything.

"I saw that John Terry voted for me. It is flattering. He has won everything. Last year, at Chelsea, he had killed me. He read all my dribbling.

"This year, against them, I scored and I made an assist. Here you don't lose your marking. You go and drink some water and they follow you!”

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