Enzo Maresca has admitted that Leicester City will have to change 'a lot of players' with the new Foxes boss resigned to losing Newcastle United target James Maddison.
Maddison is currently on holiday with family and friends in Ibiza and has been given additional time off by Leicester following his exploits with England in the final international window of the summer. There is no chance of Maddison playing in the Championship next season, but Leicester are determined to hold out for more than £50m - even though the attacking midfielder is entering the final year of his contract.
Neither Newcastle or Spurs have matched that asking price at a time when both clubs have been prioritising other targets; the Magpies are finalising a deal for AC Milan midfielder Sandro Tonali while Ange Postecoglou's side are set to complete a move for Empoli goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario. Interestingly, former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan told talkSPORT that 'if both of these two clubs are in for him and, according to Daniel Levy last week, they weren't at the level that was being reported in the media.'
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Regardless, Maresca is preparing to lose Maddison as the Italian builds a new side capable of winning promotion at the first time of asking.
"We have to change a lot of players, a lot of whom have been very key players while representing the club in recent times," he told the Telegraph. "First and foremost, we have to try and build and put together a good team and, from then on, we can see how much we can achieve with it.”
