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Leicester have appointed Craig Shakespeare as the club's permanent manager on a three-year contract. Shakespeare, who acted as an assistant to both Nigel Pearson and Claudio Ranieri during their time in charge of the club, took over on as interim manager in March and guided the club away from the threat of relegation. Leicester won eight out of their 16 games with Shakespeare in charge, including their first six in a row, before finishing 12th in the Premier League. He also guided them past Sevilla and into the Champions League quarterfinals where they were beaten 2-1 by Atletico Madrid on aggregate. Leicester City vice chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha called Shakespeare the "ideal choice" after concluding talks that have been ongoing since the end of the season. "Craig has shown all the qualities in leadership, motivation and talent management that are required to be successful in this role," he said in a club statement. "Those qualities, aligned with his first class coaching acumen, his knowledge of Leicester City and its philosophy, and the respect he has earned at every level of the Club make him the ideal choice to help take us forward." Shakespeare was part of Pearson's backroom team during two spells at the King Power Stadium and stayed at the club after Pearson's exit in 2015. He stayed as Ranieri's assistant as the pair helped mastermind last year's shock title success after being 5,000-1 to win the league at the start of the campaign. One of Shakespeare's first tasks will be to oversee the summer transfer window with Gylfi Sigurdsson linked to Leicester and Riyad Mahrez expected to leave after handing in a transfer request. "This is a really exciting opportunity for me to continue along this new path in my career and to continue to work with a club and a group of staff I've grown extremely close to," Shakespeare said. "I'm grateful to the owners and the board of directors for their continued faith and support. "Our preparations for preseason and the new Premier League campaign have been on-going for some time, but we can now move on with certainty and ensure we are well equipped to compete at the levels now expected of a club like Leicester City."
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