Leicester have Premier League transfer embargo quietly lifted with Graham Potter on two-man manager shortlist
LEICESTER’S transfer embargo has been lifted by the Premier League.
That is despite the club suing them after being charged with breaking FFP rules.
It is a major boost for the Foxes as they finalise plans to replace manager Enzo Maresca — who left for Chelsea.
Graham Potter and Carlos Corberan are favourites to step in.
The £10million received in compensation from Chelsea will be booked as pure profit for accounting purposes.
This will make it the equivalent of selling a £50m player when it comes to FFP calculations.
Leicester are now confident that a fire sale of players will not be needed to avoid an FFP charge.
The club are accused of breaching financial rules during their last three Premier League campaigns.
But the Championship winners launched legal action against the top flight in March.
Confirming their intention to take legal action, the Foxes wrote in a club statement: “LCFC has been compelled today to issue two urgent legal proceedings against the Premier League and the EFL.
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“LCFC will be seeking that each of these proceedings is determined by an appropriate and fully independent legal panel.
“The club is committed to ensure that any charges against it are properly and proportionately determined, in accordance with the applicable rules, by the right bodies, and at the right time.”
Five clubs were said to be needing to sell players, including Leicester.
But thanks to the compensation they received from the Maresca deal this list is down to four clubs; Newcastle, Everton, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest.
Why Leicester fans WON'T miss Maresca
IT IS fair to say most Leicester fans were not exactly pleading with Maresca to stay, writes Graeme Bryce
OK, they were not queueing up and offering to drive him to Stamford Bridge.
But there will not be too many tears shed or much wailing at the King Power either.
The fans’ attitude to losing their incredibly successful boss could be summed up in a word: ‘Meh’.
Maresca failed to win over the paying public who never really took to his patient, possession-based style of football.
Having been brought up — some would say spoiled — by the swashbuckling title winners of 2016, with Jamie Vardy spearheading manager Claudio Ranieri’s shock champions, Maresca never really got off the ground at the King Power.
So it will be interesting to see what Chelsea’s notoriously impatient fans make of Maresca’s ‘death by a thousand cuts’ style of play.
It was not long before some of the old-school Leicester fans started moaning that Maresca’s patient, play-out-from-the-back style was becoming too boring to watch.
During a 3-1 win over Swansea which left them ten points clear at the top, there were moans and groans coming from the stands amid cries of, ‘Get the ball forward’.
Fans accused him of stubbornly sticking to his Plan A — even when it was not working — and claimed he was way too slow to make substitutions.
But one thing Blues fans can look forward to is his man-management and his attention to detail.
And the Foxes players also adored their manager.
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Chelsea have agreed the £42m transfer of Aston Villa striker Jhon Duran, according to reports.
Italian giants Juventus are reportedly in advanced talks to sign Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz.
Bayern Munich are eyeing up a summer move for Chelsea’s Levi Colwill, according to reports.
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