Claudio Ranieri has ruled out the possibility of returning to his former club Leicester if he decides to strengthen the Fulham squad in the January transfer window.

The 67-year-old enjoyed the highlight of his managerial career when he guided the Foxes to the Premier League title in 2015-16 despite the side having odds of 5,000-1 before a ball was kicked that season.

The much-travelled Italian returned to England last week to replace Slavisa Jokanovic in the Craven Cottage hotseat after the Serbian was sacked last Wednesday with the side bottom of the table on five points from their opening 12 matches so far this term.

Ranieri revealed that he was keen to work with the squad already at his disposal given that £100million was spent on bringing in new faces in the summer after the Londoners ended a four-year spell out of the top-flight by winning the Championship play-off final against Aston Villa at Wembley in May.

However, he will have money to spend if there are any areas of the squad which he feels could do with being bolstered when the transfer window opens in January.

But when asked if he would go back to the King Power Stadium to try and take any of his title-winning players to the Cottagers, Ranieri insisted that is not an option.

He said: “In my career, never I bring back my old players.”

Fulham host relegation rivals Southampton in Ranieri’s first game in charge on Saturday and they are 2.60 to claim a win. The Saints’ are 2.80 to win and the draw is 3.25.