Enzo Maresca Hit Leicester City transfer hope after whole club left ‘surprised’

Cesare Casadei’s shock return to Chelsea has left Enzo Maresca craving two new midfielders in the final week of the January transfer window. But the Leicester City boss knows he may be pushing his luck to get everything he wants because even signing one player has been a “struggle” so far.

City were already focused on strengthening central areas before Casadei’s recall to Stamford Bridge last Friday, an announcement that came out of the blue for Maresca and the club. But having been left even shorter on options, Maresca would now prefer two new faces.

Stefano Sensi at Inter Milan is the player the manager really hopes to sign, but business has so far not been possible because of financial restrictions. That’s despite the Italian international, who is out of contract this summer, costing only around £1.5m.

Maresca was told at the start of the month that City would have to sell players before they were able to buy. Casadei’s early departure should provide City with a small financial boost, but asked if the club had informed him that there was now more money to work with, Maresca said they hadn’t.

That means that with just a week to go before the transfer window closes on the night of Thursday, February 1, Maresca knows he may not get what he wants. He said: “To be honest, I was like everyone, like the club, we were surprised (about Casadei), we didn’t expect that. Because Chelsea are the owner of Cesare, they could decide. They decided. We can’t do anything.

“We struggle to bring in one (midfielder)! We’ll see if we can bring one. And then if we can bring one, we’ll see if we can bring another one. I don’t know in this moment.

On Monday night, Maresca chose to move Ricardo Pereira forward into one of the advanced midfield positions, putting the Portuguese alongside Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. And he may stay there for the foreseeable future, with the manager doubtful over the speed of Wilfred Ndidi’s return, and with Yunus Akgun and Dennis Praet increasingly struggling for starts.