City were found guilty of the majority of the charges they were accused of by the Premier League between 2009 and 2018.
Manchester City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma’s agent has insisted that the club has “assured” the players that there are “no problems” after they were found guilty of 114 of the 115 charges they were charged with by the Premier League following a hearing by an independent commission.
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With the international break coming to an end, Premier League football is back this weekend – with City facing a demanding trip to Anfield, where they face Liverpool in what will be the men’s team’s first game since the verdict was announced.
City boss Enzo Maresca is likely to be forced to make a statement on the subject during his press conference on October 9, which is likely to be a topic of conversation throughout the weekend’s games.
And before matchweek six, Donnarumma’s agent has revealed what the club has told the players about the guilt.
In an interview with Radio Napoli Central, Enzo Raiola explained: “The chaos at Manchester City – can it change anything? No, it won’t change anything for us. Every now and then a story comes out. The club has spoken to Gigio; everyone is calm. Now that there are important games against Liverpool and PSG, sporting justice will take its course. But Gigio has received assurances from Manchester City.”
No City player has yet commented on the verdict, and Erling Haaland was pulled from media duties while he was away with Norway last week.
What is the latest news in Man City’s case?
After a lengthy hearing by an independent commission, City were found guilty of 114 of the 115 charges that the Premier League had brought against them. The charges relate to the period between 2009 and 2018 – a period in which City won three Premier League titles.
In a lengthy statement last week, the Premier League said City had used “skin” contracts to inflate revenue figures and reduce costs, as well as arranging hidden financing schemes worth more than £830 million with commercial partners.
The commission also found City guilty of all but one of the charges related to failure to cooperate with the league’s investigation, saying that “a number of key club witnesses gave false evidence on key points, and that some deliberately gave untrue and dishonest evidence.”
City have appealed the verdict, claiming that they have an “extensive amount of irrefutable evidence that exists” to support their position.
The appeal will be heard by a commission consisting of three people and is expected to last for a maximum of 12 weeks. A result is expected within 30 days of its conclusion.
If the guilty verdict is upheld, City could face sanctions such as suspension from playing in the league, points deduction, rematch, expulsion from the league, order to pay compensation to other clubs, automatic relegation and even deprivation of titles.
On Tuesday (6 October), BBC Sport reported that several Premier League clubs want City to be hit with both a “retrospective penalty” and a sanction for breaching the league’s rules.
At least four clubs believe that one points deduction would not be sufficient punishment, with the idea of a “tariff-based system” proposed to compensate rivals based on where they could have finished in the league if City had not participated.
