Leicester City owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha bought nearly every member of Leicester City’s Premier League title winning team their own £100,000 blue BMW i8. And the keyword there is “nearly.”
There were 19 identical cars waiting for the players outside King Power Stadium on Friday as Leicester prepare for their Community Shield appearance against Man United in 48 hours. But there were 23 members of the squad last season. According to the Leicester Mercury, Joe Dodoo, Andrej Kramaric, Yohan Benalouane and N’Golo Kante are believed to be the four players left out of Srivaddhanaprabha’s Oprah moment. Kante has joined Chelsea, Dodoo has gone to Rangers, and Kramaric has moved to Hoffenheim. Benalouane was on loan with Fiorentina during the second half of last season, so this is just pain on top of pain for him.
Clearly the boss is trying to send a message with this gesture. Namely that these are the perks you get if you stay with Leicester through this final month of the transfer window. And yes, Rihad Mahrez, that means you.
This comes a day after Srivaddhanaprabha made his Mahrez intentions clear on Instagram. Between the ear tugs and the fleet of BMWs, this guy isn’t messing around.
“You not for sale!” Vichai then laughs maniacally and takes off in his helicopter.