Enzo Maresca speaks for the first time since the club were charged

Enzo Maresca must convince his Leicester City players not to waste energy thinking about the club’s off-field predicament after an “intense” week at the King Power Stadium.

City were hit with a Premier League charge for an alleged breach of Profit and Sustainability rules (PSR) and an EFL transfer embargo in the space of two days last week. But for Maresca, the task is to stop his players being distracted by the saga as they fight for promotion.

Rather than thinking about a potential points deduction, they need to be focused on the points they can win at Bristol City on Friday. City go into the game in second place, one point above third, after their six-month grip on top spot was broken before the international break.

“I said before that finally we can relax over the international break, but it’s been quite intense,” Maresca said at his press conference on Thursday. “The only thing we can focus and think about is the game. The rest we can’t control. The club is in charge of that.

“I try to be honest with you and it’s the same with the players. Can we control the EFL embargo or the Premier League points deduction? No. So why should I spend energy on this? It’s the same for the players. Guys, we cannot control these kinds of things. The only thing we can control is the way we play.

“It’s also my duty to try to convince them of that (not to waste energy on it). We also trust our club and our lawyers for this kind of situation. Also I can see the players are quite focused on our final target.

“No (they’re not talking about it), to be honest. Probably some of them didn’t even know about it! I said many times that the noise is outside, not inside. Even thinking about our last games, when we lost three, there were many noises about that. But inside there is no noise. These things are normal, so the noise is outside.”

Because of the timing of the Premier League charge, City, if deemed to have breached PSR by an independent commission, are more likely to receive a points deduction next season, rather than for the current campaign. The club’s accounts for the 22-23 campaign are due to be released in the next week.