Manchester City believe they will WIN their legal battle with the Premier League, with one of the club’s former financial advisers predicting whether their top stars have relegation exit clauses in their contracts.
Man City have been charged by the Premier League with breaking their financial rules on 130 occasions between 2009 and 2018. They were initially charged with 115 breaches in February 2023, with that total subsequently increased to 130.
The Premier League allege that City failed to provide accurate information on their financial position, including sponsorship income and operating costs.
The Cityzens have also been accused of failing to cooperate with the four-year investigation.
City strenuously deny the accusations and believe they will clear their name by successfully fighting off the Premier League’s challenge.
City were referred to an independent commission by the league and the hearing took place between September and December 2024.
Pep Guardiola told reporters he expected the verdict to drop in March, but it has been delayed.
Stefan Borson, who previously worked at the Etihad, has now explained that City are ‘confident’ they will be found innocent and have been telling players this.
Borson believes City’s best performers do not have release clauses that will allow them to leave in the event the club is punished and relegated to the Championship.
“It’s obvious that each of the situations that they’ve had where they’ve signed players let’s say since January, I think there’s seven or eight, and then on top of that the [Erling] Haaland situation, they must have had conversations with the agents or with the players on every occasion,” Borson told Football Insider.
“I mean, there’s no possibility that a player has signed a five-year contract or whatever and just not asked about what has happened. So, they will have had the conversations and City will have comforted the agent or the player that was in line to sign.
“I don’t think that it’s fixed by them offering them a release clause or something like that. I think if there were a succession of quite unusual clauses in these contracts, I think it would have leaked out.
“I think it would have been the sort of thing that would have hit the press because not only in terms of the players that actually signed, but you would think that they would have had those conversations with other people who they were also talking to.
“It just would have been very easy for that to have come out for it to be a big story of City going around offering release clauses if they’re found liable for 115.
“So, I think we should assume that City have been playing a sort of confident approach in all of these negotiations. That’s with all of the players they’ve signed and the commercial deals they’ve signed. Of course, we know about the Puma situation.
“They are just expressing a lot of confidence with their position on the case.”
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Haaland, Puma supporting Man City
In January, Haaland signed a remarkable new nine-and-a-half-year contract designed to keep him at City until summer 2034.
In July, the striker said he has spoken with club officials about the FFP case and ‘I believe them’. Haaland admitted it is a ‘tricky situation’ but thinks City ‘will sort it out’.
That same month, City received a vote of confidence from Puma as the two parties agreed a new 10-year kit deal worth a staggering £1billion.
Last week, it emerged that fans will likely have to wait until at least October before learning the verdict of the FFP case.
Based on previous announcements, it could arrive during the international break running from October 4-18.
Man City FFP charges: Tottenham react; advice for Premier League
On Monday, Gary Neville quizzed Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy about the FFP saga.
Levy explained what needs to happen ‘for the good of the game’.
A former City defender has urged the Premier League to ‘think about the players’ when deciding on the club’s potential punishment.
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