Man City ignoring ‘fire sale of footballers’ & relegation threat in FFP saga as Premier League champions splash the cash ahead of verdict in 115-charge case

The reigning Premier League champions have at least 115 Financial Fair Play charges hanging over their head, leading to lively debate regarding potential punishments. It has been suggested that City could be stung with points penalties, transfer embargoes or demotion out of the English top-flight.

Those at the Etihad Stadium appear to have few concerns when it comes to the club's standing among the elite, with more big money being splashed out in the winter transfer window of 2025. Alongside tying star striker Erling Haaland to a new 10-year contract, City have also snapped up Nico Gonzalez, Abdukodir Khusanov, Omar Marmouch and Vitor Reis.

That spending points towards confidence that the harshest of FFP sanctions will be avoided. Football finance expert Stefan Borson shares that opinion, telling talkSPORT: “It seems to be simple business logic. If you're sat in a boardroom and you have serious concerns about the outcome of any litigation or any uncertainty, and that apply also to promotion and relegation. If you have uncertainty within the boardroom, especially of this sort of scale, then you would be cautious if you were nervous about the outcome. Because a consequence of that case going against them is that they will have to slash the wage bill very quickly and there is going to have to be a fire sale of footballers.

“There seems to be no way you can go and get within a championship-type Financial Fair Play regime. To me, you have to think of it as a business. But as owners and as a business, I would have thought that if they had severe doubts about the case, they would have been more cautious.”

City are competing for another top-four finish in 2024-25, after seemingly surrendering their grip on the Premier League title, and are also into the FA Cup fourth round and knockout phase play-offs of the Champions League – where they will take on Real Madrid.