Enzo Maresca has declared his "complete" trust in the Manchester City hierarchy and said his squad is fully focused on Sunday's Premier League trip to Liverpool, despite the club being found guilty on financial charges.
On September 30, the Premier League announced that City had been found guilty on all counts relating to violations of its financial regulations between 2009/10 and 2017/18, alleging the club artificially inflated revenue by more than £900 million ($1.191 billion) through "sham" sponsorship arrangements.
City have denied any wrongdoing and lodged an appeal against the ruling on October 1. In an official statement, the club said they are "innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League" and possess "a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence" to back their position, according to the Manchester Evening News.
Maresca told City's official website that his players remain "excited" ahead of their first fixture since the verdict was announced. "Personally, I'm very calm to be honest," he said. "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. The feeling is fantastic, to be honest. The players are excited for the next two games. But especially, they are excited because in this moment we are top of the league."
He added that the squad is not distracted by events off the pitch. "They know what we can control is the football side - they are not worried at all about different things," Maresca said. "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."
City's overseas players, including Erling Haaland and Elliot Anderson, returned to training on Thursday as the club prepares to resume competitive action. Maresca is understood to have addressed the squad upon their return following the verdict, with most players having been away on international duty at the time.
City travel to Anfield to face Liverpool on Sunday before hosting Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League three days later, with Pep Guardiola expected to be in the stands.
"First of all, Anfield away, we're going to bring our passion, we're going to bring our gameplan," Maresca said. "But for sure we need their voice, their passion. In the last two days I watched last year's game at Anfield away and the celebration at the end was fantastic."
"We need to be all together," he continued. "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."
