Liverpool’s focus has understandably been on matters closer to home this season, with Andoni Iraola overseeing a squad still finding its rhythm following a busy summer of arrivals and departures.
Results on the pitch have dominated conversation at Anfield, but a significant development away from the pitch could end up having just as much impact on the club in the coming months.
As per David Ornstein, Mancester City have been found guilty of almost all of the 115 charges brought against them by the Premier League relating to alleged financial rule breaches.
Nothing has been officially confirmed, but the scale of the anticipated verdict has already prompted rival clubs to begin exploring what compensation might look like.
According to The Independent, sources with knowledge of the situation say successful legal action against City could be worth more than two hundred million pounds combined to the clubs pursuing it.
Crucially, Liverpool are understood to be among those clubs.
The report names Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur as having preserved their right to claim compensation under Section W of the Premier League’s competition rules, effectively locking in their ability to sue before the relevant statute of limitations passed.
Arsenal are said to have been the first club to preserve that right, with Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester United following suit shortly after.
The reasoning centres on lost earnings and missed opportunities during the period covered by the investigation, with Manchester United’s failure to win the title in 2011/12 and 2017/18 cited as one example, alongside Liverpool’s own experience in the 2013/14 campaign, a season in which City qualified for the Champions League throughout the period in question.
Any claims could extend beyond those individual seasons, potentially covering loss of chance in later campaigns and lost commercial revenue as well.
A precedent already exists closer to home.
Burnley successfully claimed against Everton earlier this year, with an independent commission ordering Everton to pay 35.1 million pounds after ruling that breaches of the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules had given them a sporting advantage during the 2021 22 season, a campaign in which Everton survived relegation at Burnley’s expense.
Any legal process involving Manchester City would only begin once their case and subsequent appeals are fully concluded, meaning Liverpool and the other clubs involved face a lengthy wait before anything is resolved.
City are expected to contest the anticipated verdict through every available channel, with the club maintaining its position of innocence and pointing to ongoing confidentiality around the process.
For Liverpool, the financial upside remains distant and uncertain, but the fact the club has already taken the procedural steps needed to pursue compensation suggests they see genuine merit in the case, one that could yet prove significant regardless of how the season itself unfolds.
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