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Claudio Ranieri says he has had no contact with Manchester City, despite a flood of money being placed on him becoming the club’s mext manager.

Bookmaker William Hill closed the betting on the next City manager following “a flurry of support” for the Italian.

“Nobody has contacted me from Manchester City – I don’t know anything at the moment,” Ranieri told BBC Sport.

“I love English football and want to work there again one day. But my mind is 100% on Parma right now.”

City are reportedly looking for a continental managaer to replace Stuart Pearce, who was sacked at the end of the season.

Several candidates linked with the post including Louis Van Gaal, Ronald Koeman and Gerard Houllier, have already ruled themselves out of the running for the vacancy.

Ranieri took charge of Parma in February after two years out of football. They were 19th in Serie A at the time and appeared doomed to relegation, but their fortunes have been transformed under Ranieriand they now lie 14th in the league.

He admitted a return to the Premiership could appeal.

“I love the mentality and atmosphere of English football,” he said. “There are a lot of champions, a lot of good teams, and the fans are fantastic.

“I enjoyed my time at Chelsea a lot. I’ve been contacted by a lot of journalists about Manchester City, but not by the club.”

And Ranieri insisted he was concentrating soleley on Parma until the end of the season.

“We have made a lot of progress, winning three of our last five games, but not enough at the moment, because we can still go down.

“I want to finish the season very, very well. When I arrived here, nobody believed we would be safe at the end of the season.

“Now we are doing a very, very good job and must continue.”

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