The Premier League says an independent commission found that schemes at Manchester City had “artificially inflated the club’s revenues, and reduced its costs, by more than £900million”.
To put that figure into perspective, here is an XI of players City could have signed between 2009-10 and 2017-18. Ignoring wages and allowing some flexibility over timing, the team is built from the era’s biggest transfers – and still costs less than £900million.
The team
Goalkeeper – Alisson (£66m)
City have done more than well with Ederson, but Liverpool’s £66m signing from Roma would have been difficult to improve on. Alisson immediately solved a problem position and became central to the side that challenged City at their peak.
Defenders – Kyle Walker (£45m), Ashley Young (£17m), Marquinhos (£27m), Jordi Alba (£11m)
Walker is the one selection that feels least convincing, given that City signed him themselves in 2017. He has since made more than 300 appearances and won 18 major trophies. City also had Kieran Trippier, Joao Cancelo and Danilo at various stages, while the fees paid for Alvaro Odriozola, Nelson Semedo and Serge Aurier offer little reason for envy.
Young was still primarily a winger when Manchester United bought him from Aston Villa in 2011, but he fitted the profile of City’s early Abu Dhabi-era recruitment: experienced in the Premier League, at a good age and available from a club that had previously been above them in the football hierarchy.
Marquinhos cost £27m as a teenage prodigy, a considerable bargain even by today’s standards. The Brazilian has won 11 Ligue 1 titles and captained PSG to back-to-back Champions Leagues, while remaining one of the world’s leading centre-backs.
Luke Shaw’s £27m move to Manchester United would have suited the value argument, but his time at Old Trafford has not left City dwelling on what might have been. Alba, signed by Barcelona for only £11m in 2012, is the stronger world-class alternative.
Midfielders – N’Golo Kante (£32m), Paul Pogba (£89m)
Kante had just helped Leicester City complete one of the greatest title triumphs in Premier League history when Chelsea signed him for £32m. He became the first player to win successive Premier League titles with different clubs, then excelled in Chelsea’s Champions League run five years later, including the final against City.
Toni Kroos would be the logical value choice, having cost Real Madrid £20m in 2014, formed a defining partnership with Luka Modric and won five Champions Leagues. But Pogba was one of the era’s superstar transfers: outstanding for Juventus before Manchester United signed him for a world-record fee in 2016. He remains United’s record signing.
Forwards – Mohamed Salah (£34m), Neymar (€222m/£198m), Cristiano Ronaldo (£80m)
Salah cost Liverpool £34m in 2017, then a club-record fee, and went on to score 191 Premier League goals, win four Golden Boots and become a defining figure of the Guardiola-Jurgen Klopp era.
PSG’s €222m (£198m) release-clause payment for Neymar in 2017 remains difficult to approach, yet was less than a quarter of the alleged £900m.
Ronaldo’s £80m move from Manchester United to Real Madrid in 2009, the summer City allegedly began manipulating the books, would have represented only a fraction of their new owners’ wealth.
There would still be enough money for Luis Suarez (£75m), Gareth Bale (£85m), Kroos and Kaka (£56m) on the bench.
