The 74-year-old manager took charge of the Foxes at the start of the 2015/16 season and while he was impressed with the players when he first arrived for training, he couldn’t have predicted they would finish the season at the top of the table.

He told FourFourTwo magazine: “The scepticism of a few people didn’t bother me – I didn’t even know about it.

“All I knew is that when I saw the boys in training, I was astonished.

“I could see incredible determination in the way they worked.

“The miraculous relegation survival at the end of the previous season gave them confidence and the work done by my predecessor, Nigel Pearson, had been excellent.

“The lads were in great physical shape.

“I was very impressed and understood that, by changing only a few things, we could do well.

“Of course, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that we could win the league.”

Claudio received a phone call from Manchester United’s legendary former manager Sir Alex Ferguson after winning the league and it meant a lot to him.

He said: “I kept trying not to let the weight of what we were doing affect the players.

“I remember that the week after we won the title, Sir Alex Ferguson called me.

“He said, ‘Well done Claudio, the most important thing you did was never let the team feel the burden of responsibility – I watched you in interviews, you were always calm, always smiling.’

“Hearing those words from someone like Sir Alex meant an enormous amount to me.”