‘Realistic scenario’ Man City FFP verdict timeline emerges as Viana plans ‘bullish’ £202m spree

Manchester City are confident that they will not be found guilty of the alleged Premier League financial rule breaches they have been charged with, with a report quoting experts about the potential timeline when the Etihad Stadium faithful will get to know the verdict.

In February 2023, the Premier League charged Man City with 115 charges for allegedly breaching their financial rules. This came after a four-year investigation which found that the Cityzens had allegedly broken Financial Fair Play (FFP) over a nine-year period from 2009 until 2018.

Man City have always denied the charges, with the hearing taking place in front of an independent commission between September and December 2024.

There has been uncertainty over when the verdict will be announced, with Man City manager Pep Guardiola’s prediction that the outcome will be revealed in March 2025 proving to be wrong.

According to The i Paper, it is ‘unrealistic’ that an outcome is imminent, with sources saying that ‘the start of the summer at the earliest is now the more realistic scenario’.

Another source has told the respected publication that the case could drag on for ‘another couple of years’ because of the potential for appeals in response to the initial verdict.

The report has revealed that ‘there is a sense of bullishness at the Etihad about the future’, as manager Pep Guardiola and Sporting Director Hugo Viana gets to work.

Man City are ‘progressing’ in a deal to sign Morgan Gibbs-White from Nottingham Forest, despite talkPORT recently revealing that the attacking midfielder will cost £100million.

TEAMtalk can back this claim, with our transfer correspondent, Fraser Fletcher, reporting that a deal is “progressing quickly”.

Last season’s Premier League champions want to sign Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen, too.

The Germany international attacking midfielder will cost €120million (£102m / $136m), according to some outlets.

Man City plan to fund their summer signings ‘by making senior stars available’, according to the report.

READ MORE 👉 Man City, Tottenham on high alert as Crystal Palace star makes HUGE summer transfer call

No surprise in delay over Man City FFP verdict

The i Paper has spoken to Maxime van den Dijssel, a sports and litigation lawyer at Brandsmiths and an expert in arbitration about the case involving Man City.

According to Van den Dijssel, the arbitrators are not going to rush into making a decision and will cover all bases before coming up with a verdict.

Van den Dijssel said: “There is such a big media frenzy around it that people have almost forgotten that this is what happens quite regularly in arbitration.

“Arbitrators won’t necessarily pay attention to the frenzy around it [the case]. They’ll have a lot of material to get through, the stakes are very high and they need to cover all bases. They won’t want to leave any room for either side to argue there is procedural unfairness.

“They will take that little bit longer to render a decision. It doesn’t necessarily indicate it’s going one way or another, it’s more a matter of them doing their job as carefully as possible.

“It does lead us into a position where we might not have a decision until leading into next season and then, subject to appeals, there’s going to be a lot of uncertainty about their placement in the league, how it impacts other clubs in the competition, so there is a lot we still don’t know.

“I’m not surprised it’s taking this long. It’s common for things to take this long. They have to all effectively sit in a room and decide and go through it, and when there’s that much material, it makes sense that it would take this long.”

Latest Man City news: De Bruyne future, Real Madrid offer

Kevin De Bruyne may not move to Inter Miami in the summer transfer window, according to a report, which has revealed the name of another Major League Soccer club that are keen on a deal for the outgoing Man City midfielder.

Everton have been linked with a Man City defender that Guardiola has decided to offload this summer.

Meanwhile, a report in Spain has revealed that super agent Jorge Mendes has offered a top Man City midfielder to Real Madrid for just £25million.

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