Is new Man Utd CEO Omar Berrada in danger of being punished for City's alleged FFP breaches?

Berrada, who United sensationally poached from City last week to be their new chief executive by new minority shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe, held key positions at the Etihad Stadium for seven years out of the nine-year period the club are accused of misreporting financial information by the Premier League. The league hit City with 115 charges in February 2023 for alleged breaches of its financial rules between 2009 and 2018 and a date for a hearing has been set, although it has not been revealed.

However, Berrada is not believed to be at risk of being implicated in the case against City, according to The Athletic. That is because the Frenchman's name was not mentioned in the leaked emails that were published by German magazine Der Spiegel and led to City being hit with a two-year ban from European competitions for breaking financial fair play rules in 2020. The ban was later overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and Berrada was not called as a witness. United's chief legal counsel and acting chief executive Patrick Stewart was quizzed by staff about Berrada's role in the alleged breaches but the club are satisfied they have conducted due diligence on their new CEO.

Berrada played a key role in City signing Jack Grealish from Aston Villa in 2021 and, most crucially, convincing Erling Haaland to move to the Etihad Stadium over Real Madrid in 2022.

Berrada has left City and is serving a six-month period of gardening leave before taking over at United. He is expected to start work in the summer ahead of the 2024-25 season. By then, he should have a new sporting director to work with and he may have to make a huge decision on Erik ten Hag's future as the Dutchman, who is having a terrible second season in charge of the Red Devils, will be out of contract in 2025.