Man City thought to be considering legal action as Premier League attempts crackdown on related-party commercial deals

The Premier League wants tighten associated-party transaction (APT) rules, which would stop teams from being able to sign commercial deals at inflated prices with sponsors the club or its owners may already have close connections with. Sky News has reported that the Premier League has told its 20 member clubs that one of them has warned of launching potential arbitration proceedings to stop the changes going ahead. With 115 charges of breaching financial rules already hanging over them and having also previously expressed objection to such tighter APT regulations, City are rumoured to be that club.

The more income a club makes through its various revenue streams, the more they can potentially spend on transfer fees and wages. Bringing in extra commercial revenue is the best way to get ahead of the competition in terms of bringing in more money to grow the budget. But there have been longstanding allegations against Manchester City, who brought in a Premier League record revenue of £712.8m in 2022/23, of striking commercial deals with Abu Dhabi-based firms as a way of bypassing financial fair play rules. They have been repeatedly accused since 2018 by German magazine Der Spiegel in particular of "bending" financial rules. City have always denied wrongdoing.

Sheikh Mansour's 2008 takeover set the Abu Dhabi royal family member back a reported £210 million ($410m at the time). By May 2023, Forbes estimated the club to be worth £3.92 billion ($4.9bn). That put City as the fifth most valuable club in the world behind only Real Madrid, Manchester United, Barcelona and Liverpool.

A hearing is yet to begin a year on from the 115 charges being brought against City by the Premier League for various breaches of financial regulations between 2009 and 2018. The complexity of the case is unlikely to bring a resolution any time soon. On the pitch, meanwhile, Pep Guardiola's team can only focus on winning games and ignore the outside noise. Next up is a home clash on Saturday with Everton, another team who have fallen foul of the Premier League's financial rules.