Foxes aim to put financial distractions behind them to finish season strongly

Leicester City’s season has been shaken up and the club hung out to dry. Entering the final international break of the season and the last nine games of the normal Championship campaign, the demands have never been more clear for Enzo Maresca and his men.

A run of three defeats in five has left the previous procession now a nervous three-way title-race with Leeds United the form team in the country and Ipswich Town snapping at the heels. Even Southampton aren’t too far adrift to be totally ruled out just yet.

The FA Cup defeat to Chelsea has left the run-in totally free of distractions, but any hope of a smooth journey towards the finish line has been dashed. Not even one week into the break and Leicester have been given an added obstacle to get around.

The alleged financial breaches and ongoing battle with the EFL has rumbled on in the background of the season but the latest twist – being publicly called out for overstepping the line of allowed loss-making – and subsequent war of words with follow-up statements, has put a different tint on proceedings.

Leicester are now not only playing against their opponents on any given matchday but also the entirety of the league that could stand to benefit should they be proven guilty of breaking profitability and sustainability rules (PSRs) for either the Premier League ending in the 2022/23 season or the Championship as forecasts would have it for the current year.

With the prospect of punishments looming over them there is an unprecedented factor at play that will need to be addressed and worked around by Maresca. It’s nothing new for the squad, but the scale of the murky situation is almost certain to have an impact mentally on the players.

He has gotten used to dealing with such issues around his group, but this is another question entirely. “If we get promoted this season, it will be even more enjoyable because we have faced many problems this season and we have reached our target,” he said ahead of the Chelsea clash last week.

“The fans should be proud of the players because since the start they have put in an unbelievable effort to bring this club back again to the Premier League, but even from outside people don’t see that we face problems. The players have faced many, many problems.

“In the last transfer window in January, we lost players [Cesare Casadei was recalled by Chelsea] — and nobody’s talking about that. We lost players. [We have got] no new players.

“And they are still the same players and some of them have played every three days since January because we lost players and this is something that the people have to know and they have to be proud. I said at the beginning: I’m proud 100 per cent, not only because of reaching the FA Cup quarter-final but because I know exactly all the problems that we deal with this season.”

He didn’t go as far as to namecheck the financial disputes between the club and the EFL, but it would be understandable if he were to express the sort of effect uncertainty of this nature can have. Now, with Leeds and the title rivals waiting for Leicester to slip up further, they need to channel a new energy.

When Leicester return from the break in seven day’s time they will be plunged straight into action. Bringing the group together can have a galvanising effect and this is just what the Italian head coach will be after.

The us-against-them mentality, creating the filter from the outside world but letting it propel the team on, is a chance as much as the breaches are a threat. Ultimately, this squad cannot change the decision that an independent commission will now have to make, and it can only head onto the field every matchday to try and win three points.

Having the opportunity to prove the unity remains during rocky times is an element to the last set of fixtures that Leicester’s rivals can’t match. There will be pressure, twists and turns to come, but nothing will match the sense of questioning that now hangs on Leicester.

They are, like it or not, the club with a Premier League charge against their name – an effective asterisk on the table despite not tangible outcome yet – and an EFL-imposed registration embargo. Few will buy into the underdog story for a former top-flight champion in the past eight years, a team with parachute payments and squad value unrivalled across the division, but this battle, the corner they are now in, must become something to spur the team on.

Do this, and Leicester’s off-field nightmare, their possible impending disaster, could become the thing to drive them towards promotion yet again. It’s hard to label it an unlikely outcome, but siege mentalities are a common occurrence in clubs these days.

Leicester will feel ganged up on. Now they must break free again.