Why Man City are likely to avoid transfer ban in FFP case as Premier League champions are backed to 'keep spending'

The club are waiting to discover their fate in a long-running saga that has seen at least 115 charges brought against them. An independent hearing into supposed Financial Fair Play misdemeanours has come to a close, but no verdict has been delivered as yet.

Various punishments have been speculated on, from hefty fines to demotion out of the English top-flight, but City have always maintained their innocence and are splashing the cash again at the start of 2025 – with Omar Marmoush, Vitor Reis and Abdukodir Khusanov acquired in the January window.

After seeing City invest a further £122 million ($153m) in new recruits, the club’s former financial adviser, Stefan Borson, has told Football Insider: "I don’t personally think a transfer ban is likely. It will, of course, depend on the size and nature of the allegations for the less serious stuff. For the most serious stuff, you can forget a transfer ban as being a suitable remedy if they are found to have committed those breaches. That would be very serious and they won’t get away with a transfer ban for that. I think there was a transfer-related one in regard to some young players. We don’t know if that is a meaningful part of the investigation, but I suspect not. It doesn’t feel like the type of thing that is.

"I suspect that a transfer ban just wouldn’t cut it either way. If they had been expecting a transfer ban, you would have thought that they would have dealt differently with the summer. If you were expecting a transfer ban, why would you only start taking action now? But the bottom line is, I don’t think a transfer ban is the reason they are investing. I think the reason they are investing is because they have clearly got very significant issues in the squad and on the pitch, and they urgently need some players after recognising they made a mistake in the summer. They are, therefore, a little bit on the back foot, but they are spending money and it wouldn’t surprise me if they keep spending."

City resisted the urge to spend big in the summer of 2024, but are now freshening up their ranks after enduring uncharacteristic struggles for consistency. They have also tied star striker Erling Haaland down on a new 10-year contract – which suggests that they expect to be playing Premier League football for the foreseeable future.