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Jonathan Smith

Claims over Premier League investigation into Man City made by German newspaper

Manchester City
Premier League

Der Spiegel says it has details of the focus of three-year probe into alleged Financial Fair Play breaches by the English champions

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German newspaper Der Spiegel has published claims that it knows the details of a Premier League investigation into Manchester City.

In March 2019, the Premier League began an investigation into City for alleged breaches of Financial Fair Play (FFP), which is still to be concluded.

European governing body UEFA has previously investigated City and the English champions were initially banned from European competition for two years but the decision was over-turned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) who said “most of the alleged breaches were either not established or time-barred”.

What is Der Spiegel claiming?

Der Spiegel claims to have obtained information that the Premier League's investigation is looking at three areas, the first being that "underage players were allegedly pressured to sign contracts with Manchester City through monetary payments, in violation of the rules".

Secondly 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 [owner] Sheikh Mansour himself".

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And finally that former manager Roberto Mancini "is thought to have received a significant portion of his compensation secretly by way of a fictitious consultancy contract".

What happened in the UEFA investigation?

A UEFA investigation into alleged FFP irregularities was prompted by a number of claims by Der Spiegel, which drew on documents said to have been obtained by whistleblowers Football Leaks, in 2018.

After being initially punished by UEFA, CAS said City did not overstate sponsorship contributions has had been alleged.

City have been approached for comment by GOAL over Der Spiegel's latest claims but have yet to receive a response.

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