Report: Ranieri given £30M in spending money to fix Leicester woes

Leicester City's owners will make £30 million available for Claudio Ranieri to spend over the January transfer window as they look to address the club's lowly 16th-placed standing, reports The Telegraph's John Percy.

The £14-million swoop for Genk's highly rated teenage defender-cum-midfielder Wilfred Ndidi should be completed in the first week of the new year, but at least two more signings are expected in a busy month for the beleaguered Premier League champion.

The problems are widespread for Leicester, and Ranieri is said to be targeting a centre-back, central midfielder, and striker in the recruitment drive.

Burnley centre-half Michael Keane - apparently a target for Chelsea - has been scouted for over 12 months by the Foxes, but it's believed that the east Midlands outfit will instead do its shopping overseas.

It's unlikely the interest in Adrien Silva will be revived though, with the Portuguese midfielder having a lofty £38-million release clause written into his contract at Sporting Lisbon.

Although £30 million would immediately appear to be a huge transfer kitty for Ranieri to play with - and one that will be considerably higher than many of his Premier League contemporaries - the reluctance of European rivals to sell when they are entering a critical stage of the 2016-17 campaign would inevitably bloat players' valuations.

There would also be surprise at the amount of trust Ranieri is being given in the market, given that his last summer spend of more than £60 million has yielded such derisory results. Islam Slimani, Nampalys Mendy, and Ahmed Musa are among a sextet that have failed to impress in a season that is at risk of seeing the side relegated a year after becoming English champion. It would be the first time that's happened since Manchester City in 1938.

At the same stage of last term, Leicester was top and had accrued 21 more points. With just three points between it and 18th-placed Sunderland, changed are afoot.

Leonardo Ulloa and Jeffrey Schlupp, meanwhile, are expected to head for the King Power Stadium exit due to the pair's dismay at their lack of opportunities with the first team.

Leicester rounds off 2016 with a New Year's Eve visit from an improving West Ham United.