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Ramon Vega Exclusive: All hail Leicester's "Immortals"

Yahoo's Sports Business Correspondent Ramon Vega on Leicester's remarkable achievement and what Claudio Ranieri needs to do next season to build on their success.

The sign at Leicester’s training ground said it all: ‘Training cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances”, above a picture of the Premier League trophy and the word “Champions”.

Leicester’s title triumph is quite simply the biggest shock in the history of British sport, and is up there with the world’s most fanciful footballing fairytales.

Some have been equating the scale of the Foxes’ win with the achievements of Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest or Derby teams or with the late and great Sir Bobby Robson’s Ipswich exploits.

However, as impressive as they were, English, and indeed European, football was a lot more open then.

Although the spoils were often won by the bigger teams, there was always a chance for less fashionable sides to mount a challenge.

The dawning of the Premier league era, with the influx of TV riches and the globalised appeal of the established elite, changed all of that….until now.

Leicester’s players have been celebrating hard this week and they have every right to. The sheer feat of what they have pulled off still hasn’t really sunk in and their epic efforts on the pitch throughout the campaign have defied belief at times.

True to their on-field performances, their celebrations have been inclusive, with bus rides through the town, street parties outside Jamie Vardy’s house and even the invitation of a Vardy look-a-like fan to the club lunch.

The supporters - with their incessant encouragement and upbeat outlook, not to mention the incredible noise they have consistently created at home and away - have been an integral part of Leicester’s phenomenal success and so it is only right that they should have a significant share of the glory.

The players seem to understand and acknowledge that it is the fans’ victory just as much as it is theirs or their employers’.

So what next for the formidable Foxes? Do they look to capitalise on the financial boost and spend big on player recruitment in order to maintain a top-four position next season? Or do they carry on as they have been doing, buying keen, hungry and young players with a point to prove?

I would definitely suggest the latter. Obviously, they will need to deepen their squad for the extra commitments in the Champions League and they will find that selling clubs will inevitably add an extra 20-25% to the price of players when they realise Leicester are interested

Roberto Martinez says Leicester City's story is a 'fairytale' but it is the exception to the rule
Roberto Martinez says Leicester City's story is a 'fairytale' but it is the exception to the rule

However, I believe Claudio Ranieri will want to stick to the operational model that has served him so well this year.

In Ranieri, Leicester have a calm head on very experienced shoulders and their first priority will be to keep hold of him.

One day, I feel he would make an excellent Italy coach, but for the time being he will want to savour the fruits of his labour at Leicester.

And he has every reason to head to the beach for the summer with his characteristic wry smile etched on his face.

For Claudio has truly eclipsed even Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal ‘Invincibles’.

He has given us the Leicester ‘Immortals’.