Enzo Maresca gave Ruud van Nistelrooy the Leicester Lowdown and convinced his partner that it was the right job.
And the boss of Chelsea believes that it is still a good performance, although his friend has only won two Premier League matches since he took over in December.
Maresca led the foxes to last season's championship title, but they are now immediately back from the top flight in free fall.
The Italian bids to continue his old club and Van Nistelrooy on Sunday on Stamford Bridge.
Maresca said: “Ruud is a friend of mine. We played together and after we had been in contact.
“When Leicester called, he thought to call me and we had a chat. I told him that Leicester is a fantastic club run by fantastic people.
“I often said, I am in football for 30 years and it was probably the best people in the football I had met. So I told him a lot of good, positive things about Leicester. '
Maresca and Van Nistelrooy briefly shared a dressing room while playing for the Spanish side Malaga, but will be against Dugouts on Sunday afternoon.
City is desperately looking for points that have only taken three points this calendar year.
Maresca also stays close to the players of Van Nistorrooy.
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They even posted a photo of a banner who explains 'Enzo we miss you miss' during their Christmas party.
The Italian said: “The only thing I can say is that I try to create a relationship with players where I feel very close to them at the end and they probably feel very close to me.
“This is probably the only reason. I still speak with many players from Leicester because we had a fantastic season last year and I am very close to some of them.
“I've been in football for more than 30 years. You struggle to find people like that, so, so nice, that they care about the family, for the children, for everything. They are fantastic.
“But the most important thing, let me say is that we need our fans on Sunday – 95 minutes, 100 minutes, we have to win the game. That's the most important thing.
“At the moment I am focused on us. Now I am here, I just think of us, how we can improve and then it is more for Ruud, for the sports director, for the owner to find a solution. “
Leicester cannot expect favors, nor an easy approach with squadrotation.
The most important midfielder Moises Caicedo is a booking away from a two-game ban and Chelsea has demonstrably more difficult games that appear against London Rivals Arsenal and Tottenham.
But Maresca will not consider having his tough tackling of £ 115 million star tackled.
He said: “At the moment it is about winning games. We have to win games, so we can't intend to give Moi a rest think he can play against Arsenal.
“We have to win against Leicester and then we have to concentrate on how we can beat Arsenal. It's just Game by Game and we need our best players on the field.
“The position of Moises, when you see his background, he had 11-12 yellow cards last year, the year before the same because he is a midfielder. You are in traffic. Sometimes you have to make some mistakes. It's normal.
“Hopefully he can avoid that until the end, knowing that it is probably difficult, but the good thing is that we now also have Romeo Lavia, he has already started with us.
“He can be back. We must be ready. Reece James can also be a midfielder, so we'll see. '
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