Wout Faes: Leicester City's Belgium defender focused only on promotion
- Published
Foxes promotion push 'going very well' - Faes
Belgium defender Wout Faes says he is only focused on returning Leicester City to the Premier League and that transfer speculation should be ignored.
The 25-year-old has been linked with Atalanta, external and numerous other clubs since Leicester were relegated last season.
And he has been instrumental for the Championship leaders this season, starting 23 of their 26 league games.
"It must attract attention that we are doing well," said Faes when asked about transfer interest in Leicester players.
"But I don't think we need to fear or think about it."
When asked by BBC East Midlands Today about his own future amid the constant speculation, Faes added: "My main goal this season is to play as much as possible and get up to the Premier League straight away, then there is the Euros in the summer."
Faes' first season at the King Power Stadium after arriving for £15m from French side Reims finished with relegation from the top flight, ending a decade of unprecedented success for Leicester - which included wining the Premier League title, the FA Cup and reaching the Champions League quarter-finals.
'New era at Leicester'
Under Italian manager Enzo Maresca, Leicester have set numerous club and competition records with their strong start to the season - including becoming the first English second tier side to win their opening seven away league games and equal-fastest Championship team to collect 65 points.
After 26 games, Leicester are 10 points clear at the Championship summit and have a 13-point cushion to third-placed Southampton in the race for automatic promotion.
Faes says Maresca's arrival in the summer, having helped Manchester City win the Treble as an assistant coach to Pep Guardiola, was crucial to Leicester turning the despair of relegation into a focused desire to immediately bounce back.
"There was a new era almost in the club, with a whole new staff," Faes said.
"They put in a lot of positive energy and everyone was straight away focused on the main goal of going back to the Premier League.
"We have to hope and enjoy having this challenge."
Maresca, who lasted only 180 days as Parma boss when handed the reins at the Italian club following their relegation from Serie A in 2021, brought more than a refreshing feeling to the King Power Stadium as his focus on possession-based, passing football signalled somewhat of a revolutionary shift in how the Foxes play the game.
"It's a mix of everything," said Faes about the reasons for Leicester's strong first half to the season.
"It's a new coach who came in who has a very clear style of play and who really said 'I want this style of play and nothing else', and also players who are very hungry to go back up.
"In the beginning when you come in it's something totally new - I don't think a lot of players were used to a style like this where, talking for myself as a defender, a full-back can become a midfielder and I go much more wide.
"I think it is a very good style, a versatile system, and I think we are adapting very well.
"He needed the players to do it, and he wants us to be brave and to keep trying what he implements, and think that is why we get rewarded [with results].
"He wants us to move the ball, shift it from one side to the other, which might seem a bit boring at times if it is backwards or at the back, but I think if we can find the right moment to break the line then we are much more dangerous."