Enzo Maresca makes Leicester City transfer demand and addresses Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s future

Enzo Maresca has stressed that Leicester City must replace any key players sold this summer, with the manager still only “hopeful” that Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall will be with the club next season.

City face a tumultuous summer where they could receive a points deduction for alleged breaches of financial rules and may be forced to sell players to comply with the regulations and avoid another charge. It means the title-winning group may not be kept together.

With City needing profit on their books, Dewsbury-Hall is at risk of being sold. The midfielder, City’s player of the season, has indicated that he has no intention of leaving, but he is valuable and his sale would go into the accounts as pure profit, given he is a graduate of the academy.

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Brighton came in for the 25-year-old in the January window, and Maresca has suggested he is expecting more Premier League sides to come forward once the top-flight campaign has finished. But if City sell Dewsbury-Hall, who was on crutches for the final game of the season after injuring his ankle, then Maresca is demanding a replacement.

“The Championship is very tough and very long, and any team can beat any team,” the City boss said. “But also the Premier League is difficult and we need to be ready and we need to compete. For sure we need to do things in terms of the squad, no doubt.

“I don’t care about this (selling players for financial reasons). If we lose important players, it’s important that we bring in important players. It’s not a problem if we need to sell players to solve any problems. But it’s important that we can then bring players in.

“We need to be competitive. I don’t want to be, this time next year, where we were a year ago. This has to be the main focus.”

On Dewsbury-Hall, he added: “He got injured in the celebrations after the Preston match! But for sure he will be available for next season, hopefully with us.

“We didn’t talk about it (his future) yet. Most of the clubs are still busy. The Premier League is still playing so clubs are still thinking about how they finish and how they want to start. We’ll see.”

Dewsbury-Hall finished the Championship campaign with 12 goals and 14 assists, one of three players to reach double figures for both, alongside Southampton’s Adam Armstrong and Norwich’s Gabriel Sara. He is under contract at the King Power Stadium until 2027.

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