Emile Heskey says what Enzo Maresca refuses to accept about Leicester City
The Foxes have made a great start to the new season in the Championship as they look to earn a swift return to the top-flight, having been relegated at the end of last season. New boss Enzo Maresca has guided them to the top of the table with eight wins from their first nine matches.
While they sold the likes of James Maddison and Harvey Barnes during the summer, having dropped out of the Premier League, Heskey insists Maresca still has plenty of top level talent at his disposal, pointing to strikers Jamie Vardy and Kelechi Iheanacho as well as new signings Stephy Mavididi and Harry Winks.
He also believes Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall has stepped his game up a level since Maddison’s departure for Tottenham.
“They’ve got Premier League-quality players in the Championship and they were lucky to keep hold of a lot of them,” said Heskey. “They look confident with Jamie Vardy playing out of his skin at the moment, as well as the likes of Kelechi Iheanacho coming off the bench and scoring.
“Stephy Mavididi is on fire and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall is stepping out of James Maddison’s shadow and really making it his own. Harry Winks has been a breath of fresh air as well; it’s been a great start to the season for Leicester so far.”
Maresca also notably signed Conor Coady from Wolves this summer which was a coup for the club, although the manager has been keen to play down talk of City being a ‘Premier League team’ in the Championship.
Blackburn Rovers manager Jon Dahl Tomasson called the Foxes a “Premier League side” after City’s 4-1 win at Ewood Park on Sunday.
“I’m not agreed with him,” Maresca said. “I agree with him that they are very good, they played very good, the best team we have faced and I told him. But I don’t agree that we’re a Premier League team.
“Otherwise we would not be playing against Blackburn, but against one of the Premier League clubs. Leicester is a Championship club.”
A Championship club now then, but Heskey is confident they will be back in the Premier League next season.
“Leicester have made a fantastic start to the season,” he told altindex.com . “The new manager came in and didn’t really have that much time to work with his new team because of their schedule, but he and the players dealt with it really well. You’ve got to remember they had to adapt to a whole new style of play and system under him.
“They’ve got Enzo Maresca’s style of football down to a tee now and they’re arguably the best footballing team in the league. I definitely think that they can bounce straight back up to the Premier League this season and that is exactly what their fans would have been hoping for before the start of the season.”
