Leicester City: What next after promotion, Enzo Maresca exit and PSR charge – BBC
Leicester returned to the Premier League at the first attempt this season
Leicester face an uncertain summer as they prepare for life back in the Premier League.
Already facing one charge for breaching profit and sustainability rules (PSR) they essentially have two transfer deadlines, one on 30 June before filing their accounts – to avoid a potential second PSR charge – and the traditional deadline on 30 August.
Boss Enzo Maresca's surprise move to Chelsea adds to the upheaval at the Foxes.
They could start next season with a points deduction but the uncertainty does not end there – their legal action against the Premier League and English Football League remains open and they are still under a registration embargo. So what do the next few months look like?
Leicester must plan for the summer without their manager Maresca
Leicester's accounts showed they were on course to breach EFL rules by the end of the season, so the league told the Foxes to submit a business plan to ensure their compliance.
The club felt it was unfair, given they were in the Premier League for the majority of the time and the EFL rules did not apply, with an independent club financial reporting panel finding in their favour in March.
They were then charged with breaking profit and sustainability rules later that month. They were put under a transfer embargo before Leicester started "urgent" legal proceedings against the Premier League and EFL.
The club said an embargo was "both restrictive and premature, with more than a quarter of the club's 2023-24 reporting period remaining". Those proceedings remain open, with Leicester's options all on the table.
Two weeks later the Foxes announced losses of £89.7m for 2022-23, although Leicester will have "add backs", including spending on their women's team and the academy, which will bring their losses down in the Premier League's calculations.
It means the £215.3m of losses over the last three years is not the precise figure they will be judged on.
Because Leicester were not part of the Premier League when the new "standard directions" were adopted, which also prescribe a 12-week timeline when cases should be heard, an independent commission will set the timescale for their PSR hearing.
It has already gone beyond the end of the season and they will be a Premier League club before the EFL can do anything themselves, if there are breaches for 2023-24.
That means any investigation is likely to be passed to the Premier League, and there could be a separate second charge if it is ruled Leicester are in breach.
There is a precedent, albeit a different situation, with Sheffield United being docked two points by the EFL in April while a Premier League club.
The Blades will start next season on minus two points after defaulting on payments to other clubs during the 2022-23 season, when they won promotion from the Championship.
The EFL will always defend its position and, with the clubs having agreed the rules, it is the league's responsibility to apply them.
Yet, there are still too many unknowns in Leicester's case – and still time for them to avoid another breach – to say exactly what will happen.
Leicester can sell players before the end of the financial year on 30 June to help balance their books but, unless they strike deals beforehand, they have just two weeks from the window opening on 14 June.
Harvey Barnes' £38m move to Newcastle will be included in the latest accounts along with Timothy Castagne's switch to Fulham, reportedly for £15m.
Selling would help plug any further gap in the finances and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who had been interesting Brighton and Brentford, would generate the most profit -having come through the club's academy – but he said at the club's end-of-season awards he did not want to leave.
Selling players is not a new thing for Leicester. Harry Maguire, Riyad Mahrez, Danny Drinkwater, N'Golo Kante and Ben Chilwell have all left for big money over the past eight years.
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The current spotlight on PSR means the focus on sales is magnified in the face of Leicester's charge.
Goalkeeper Daniel Iversen, who spent the second half of the season on loan at Stoke, will be allowed to leave but the Foxes will not get the £4m they were demanding in January with just 12 months left on his contract.
Harry Souttar, a £15m signing from Stoke 17 months ago, has made just 16 appearances and will be allowed to leave with four years left on his contract.
Leicester's preference remains a permanent deal and they will hope to recoup some money having rebuffed interest from Leeds, Everton and Sheffield United in January.
Danny Ward and Luke Thomas are also surplus to requirements.
There is an insistence from inside that there is no fire sale and that the Foxes cannot change what interest, or lack of, there is in their players.
The compensation from Chelsea for Maresca, believed to be £8-10m, could also help.
Wilfred Ndidi has options away from the King Power Stadium
Once Leicester officially become a Premier League club again at the league's AGM on Thursday, the registration embargo imposed by the EFL ends.
This will allow the Foxes to move forward with their summer transfer plans.
They have been able to re-engage current players despite the embargo and Jamie Vardy is expected to stay, with talks over a new deal ongoing.
Wilfred Ndidi could leave after seven years. The Foxes have offered the midfielder a new deal but he has Premier League interest and options to move abroad.
Jannik Vestergaard is on the brink of signing a new contract, which caps a remarkable turnaround for the defender after he was frozen out and publicly criticised by former boss Brendan Rodgers.
Premier League winner Marc Albrighton is out of contract, Kelechi Iheanacho could move on and Dennis Praet has confirmed he will leave.
Vardy and Albrighton won the Premier League in 2016
Leicester are not returning to the Premier League with fairytale expectations.
After their stunning 5,000-1 title win in 2016, a run to the Champions League quarter-finals, two fifth-placed finishes and an FA Cup win, it is a different era.
Survival and 17th position will remain the target. The Foxes will likely find new and greater problems next season, as Burnley's struggles in the top flight have shown.
There is, though, a desire and ambition to return to the position of strength they were in, coupled with a realism that it will take time. Staying in the division is the priority.
"For the older fanbase, they remember us as a yo-yo club. For the younger fanbase, those who have grown up with that level of success, that will be a bit of a struggle and it was probably that set of fans who were getting frustrated when we lost a few games," said Ian Bason, chairman of the Foxes Trust.
"The aim is to stay up and, if that's communicated and the logic we're trying to follow, that will temper expectations a bit."
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