Enzo Maresca: Leicester boss says financial probe does not make promotion more important
- Published
Leicester were relegated from the Premier League after a nine-year stay last season
Leicester City boss Enzo Maresca says the financial probe into the Foxes has not made an immediate return to the Premier League any more urgent.
The current Championship leaders are the subject of an ongoing English Football League inquiry into a possible breach of profitability and sustainability (P&S) rules.
The club was forecast to breach loss limits for the current three-year term.
Maresca said it was not something he is "paying attention to" at the moment.
Leicester had been asked by the EFL to submit a business plan on how it would comply with P&S rules.
But an independent Club Financial Reporting Panel (CFRP) concluded that under the rules "as currently written", Leicester were "under no obligation to submit and agree to a business plan".
The Foxes said they were "pleased" the panel found in their favour and added that it "remains committed to seeking an appropriate overall outcome" to the investigation.
The Premier League, where broadcast income is far great, permits much higher losses than in the Championship, which adds to the significance of Leicester's bid for promotion.
Top-flight rules permit clubs to make losses of £105m over a three-year period, while it is £39m over the same period in the Championship.
For a club that is relegated, and spends a year in the Championship after two in the Premier League, the allowable loss is £83m - which is a figure the Foxes have forecasted to pass.
Leicester are yet to make their accounts for their last season in the Premier League publicly available, but in the 12 months up to May 2022 they lost £92.5m.
When Maresca was asked by BBC Radio Leicester if he, or his players, felt an added need to go up, the Italian said: "We always said getting promoted was something important and it's still something important.
"I don't know what is going on in the next day and the next week, but I don't have the feeling now that it is more important.
"At the same time it [the investigation] is something we don't like, but now we have just 10 more games and that is the most important thing for us - for the players, for the staff, the club, everyone.
"We have to be focused on this moment."