Jordan Veretout, on loan at Saint-Etienne from Aston Villa, has revealed that Claudio Ranieri wanted him at Leicester City last summer before he joined the Villans, but insists he has no regrets over his move as "it's just life".
Aston Villa snapped up the French midfielder from FC Nantes last summer, but Veretout could do very little as the Villans slumped from one defeat to another and got relegated from the Premier League.
However, for Veretout the story could have been a lot different as Leicester City, who eventually surprisingly won the league, were also interested in him and the 23-year-old revealed that Ranieri personally called him up to convince him to move to the King Power Stadium.
When asked whether he also had an offer from Leicester, Veretout told French outlet But Football Club: “Yes, but I received Aston Villa’s offer first and I went to Birmingham to meet with their leaders.
“When Leicester came to know about it, Claudio Ranieri called me and said, ‘Well Jordan, I know you, I saw you play when I was at Monaco, and I’d like you to join Leicester’.”
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The midfielder is not overtly disappointed that he didn’t join Leicester, and is grateful that Aston Villa gave him the opportunity to play in the Premier League, but he admits that the experience could have been a lot different had he responded to Ranieri’s call.
“It’s just life, I came to know about the Premier League with Villa, and though it didn’t go down well, I still played 29 matches.
“Of course I would have preferred to be at the top than bottom, but it’s just like that.
"Who would have thought last summer that Leicester would have such a season?”
Veretout returned to France this summer to Saint-Etienne on a season-long loan deal from Aston Villa.
