Meanwhile, 34-year-old midfielder Albrighton told BBC Radio Leicester that he is “99.9% certain” that his appearance off the bench in Saturday’s 2-0 final-day defeat by Blackburn was his last match.

Albrighton, like Vardy, is a Premier League and FA Cup winner with Leicester.

He had a spell on loan at West Brom in the Championship last season as Leicester were relegated, and he has been used sparingly in the second tier as they have made their way back to the top flight this term.

He featured just 18 times in all competitions, but Maresca praised his influence.

“Mac is very professional; he helps all the young players, he helps outside the pitch, when I give him some minutes, he helps inside the pitch,” the Italian, 44, said.

“I told them many times I cannot be fair with all of them.

“Unfortunately my job is like this, you cannot be fair with all the players but it’s not something against them. It’s because you take a different choice, but Marc has been fantastic.”