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Enzo Maresca has insisted he trusts completely in his bosses at Manchester City and that the mood in his squad is fantastic – even though the club have been found guilty of 114 charges of breaching financial rules and face potentially huge punishments.
An independent commission ruled that City had “sham” contracts and that their disguised funding amounted to more than £900m over a nine-year period between 2009 and 2018.
But while City could be expelled from the Premier League or face a points penalty that would make relegation certain, Maresca said he was calm and is still supporting the club hierarchy.
City are appealing against the verdict and have said they have “irrefutable” proof of their innocence and Maresca claimed he was not worried and called on supporters to carry on backing them.
“Personally, I’m very calm, to be honest,” he told the club website. “The club has been quite clear. We trust completely the club. We understand the noise but the focus for us is just what we can control and we can control just the football side.
“We need to be all together. I said many times the reason why this organisation in the last 15 years was top was because from the owner, the CEO, the sporting director, the manager, players, fans, they are all on the same page. And this is fantastic.”
Maresca is thought to have talked to his players this week after they returned from international duty.
But he insisted they are buoyant after his team, who face Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, made a 100 percent start to the Premier League campaign.
“The feeling is fantastic, to be honest,” he added. The players are excited for the next two games. But especially they are excited because in this moment we are top of the league. The players are just focused on that. They know what we can control is the football side – they are not worried at all about different things.
“They know their profession and they know that the noise is there, but they don’t care too much about the noise. They are just focused in this moment on how we can bear Liverpool and how, together with the fans, we can try to win in Anfield.”