Jamie Vardy responds to claims that he played a part in Claudio Ranieri’s dismissal

Jamie Vardy has moved to clarify that he had no part in Claudio Ranieri's sacking from Leicester City.

Speculation had suggested that the striker had, along with other members of Leicester's playing staff, met with the club's owners and urged them to give Ranieri the boot. However, in a post shared on his Instagram account, Vardy dismissed such claims, making it clear that he had nothing but respect for his former manager. Having acknowledged that the only thing the Leicester players were guilty of was underperforming, he closed his message by thanking Ranieri. The full message (and Instagram post) can be seen below:

"I must have written and deleted my words to this post a stupid amount of times! I owed Claudio to find the right and appropriate words! Claudio has and always will have my complete respect! What we achieved together and as a team was the impossible! He believed in me when many didn't and for that I owe him my eternal gratitude. There is speculation I was involved in his dismissal and this completely untrue, unfounded and is extremely hurtful! The only thing we are guilty of as a team is underachieving which we all acknowledge both in the dressing room and publicly and will do our best to rectify. I wish Claudio the very very best in whatever the future holds for him. Thank You Claudio for everything."

I must have written and deleted my words to this post a stupid amount of times! I owed Claudio to find the right and appropriate words! Claudio has and always will have my complete respect! What we achieved together and as a team was the impossible! He believed in me when many didn't and for that I owe him my eternal gratitude. There is speculation I was involved in his dismissal and this completely untrue, unfounded and is extremely hurtful! The only thing we are guilty of as a team is underachieving which we all acknowledge both in the dressing room and publicly and will do our best to rectify. I wish Claudio the very very best in whatever the future holds for him. Thank You Claudio for everything.

A post shared by Jamie Vardy (@vardy7) on Feb 25, 2017 at 11:33am PST

Vardy's post followed Kasper Schmeichel's interview with Geoff Shreeves, in which he also denied any involvement from Leicester players in Ranieri's dismissal.