A series of bombshell allegations have been recently unfurled, releasing intriguing details of the Premier League’s long-running investigation into alleged Financial Fair Play (FFP) breaches supposedly conducted by reigning champions Manchester City.
German newspaper Der Spiegel first brought attention to breaches alleged committed by the club nearly three years ago, which had led to UEFA banning City for two years from Champions League football and fining them 25 million euro for the FFP ‘serious breaches’. However the penalties were subsequently overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The Premier League then reportedly conducted its own probe in early 2019, an initiative which is still ongoing, although revelations resulting from the lengthy investigation have been scarce, to say the least.
Now fresh attention is being focused anew on the issue with Der Spiegel revealing a fresh tranche of documents substantiating its initial report into the three alleged focuses of the probe.
Coincidentally it was on the very same day that FIFA replaced the FFP – introduced in 2010 – with a new list of financial regulations aimed at stopping football’s burgeoning financial arms race from spiraling beyond control that the bombshell new evidence was released, with Der Spiegel reporting the probe’s first focus being specifically that ‘under-age players [including Jadon Sancho] were allegedly pressured to sign contracts with Manchester City through monetary payments, in violation of the rules’.
The club was also alleged to have paid transfer fees for underage players including then 14-year-old player Brahim Díaz, in what could prove to be a major breach.
Secondly, leaked emails seemingly provided evidence of an Abu Dhabi government agency (with connections to ruling family member and City owner Sheik Mansour) inflating sponsorship payments to the club to bypass FFP rules.
Der Spiegel wrote that ‘club sponsors in Abu Dhabi are suspected of having provided only a portion of their payments to the club themselves, with the majority apparently coming from Sheik Mansour himself’.
The third focus of the probe was that ‘Roberto Mancini (City coach, 2009-2013) is thought to have received a significant portion of his compensation secretly by way of a fictitious consultancy contract’.
City and the Premier League have yet to react to these latest allegations.