Three Prime Ministers have come and gone since Manchester City were charged with breaking spending rules - and their spending this summer underlines the problem
Khaldoon Al Mubarak
Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak continues to spend, spend, spend (Image: Getty Images)
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Richard Masters has had better weeks. Because he’s just been forced to sit and watch a product he runs eat itself from the inside out.
A product which has spent millions on legal fees attempting to hold Manchester City to account. A club accused of breaking Premier League spending rules.
So concerned with being found guilty, however, that it decided to spend the thick end of another £200million on new signings in the final hours of the summer transfer window.
The world of football is still waiting to discover the outcome of the investigation into City’s alleged wrongdoings. So long, in fact, that in the time it has taken the relevant authorities to charge them with an offence and fail to reach a verdict, the UK has had three different Prime Ministers.
And none of them have had the wit to intervene in solving one of the most farcical events a game which England invented has ever been put through.
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In the meantime, City have taken the liberty of breaking their own spending record on a player not once, but twice, in the same summer.
Enzo Fernandez signs for Manchester City at Manchester City Football Academy on September 01, 2026 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Manchester City FC)
Enzo Fernandez joined Manchester City for £125m on deadline day(Image: Manchester City FC)
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It’s safe to assume the likes of Enzo Fernandez wouldn’t be joining City if they stood a serious chance of being punished with relegation to the lower leagues. It’s safe to assume Elliot Anderson wouldn’t be joining City if they stood a chance of being punished with relegation to the lower leagues.
Get my drift? The integrity of the Premier League is becoming shambolic. It has become a laughing stock.
Liverpool broke their own transfer record twice last summer. Tottenham have spent more than £300m this summer and are still yet to win a league game.
Richard Masters
Premier League CEO Richard Masters must know the integrity of his competition is being seriously questioned (Image: PA)
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Everton were willing to spend £10m on a loan fee for Joshua Zirkzee, who has been about as threatening at Manchester United as a wet sponge. Aston Villa won the Europa League, got into the Champions League, then decided to flog all their best players.
But signed someone in Alejandro Garnacho who stunk out United and then Chelsea. Go figure? The panic clubs show, which are run by executives being paid huge salaries in return for their so-called expertise, is frightening.
Who in their right mind thinks Fernandez is worth £125m? No-one, apart from those who treat hard cash like it's come from a Monopoly box. The same people who thought Anderson was worth £116m plus extras.
The footballing world has gone mad. City are not the only ones to blame. Top flight clubs have smashed their summer transfer record with over £3.3bn spent. More than half of them broke their transfer records in a window featuring four of the top flight's five most expensive ever deals.
Perpetuating a market which now sees clubs indulge in the kind of financial spending, which leaves those living in the real world wondering when it will all implode on itself.
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