De Bruyne, Džeko and Sané among City’s Bundesliga buys in financial spotlight | OneFootball

Manchester City’s recruitment of five Bundesliga players, costing around €204.5 million between 2010 and 2016, falls within the period examined by the Premier League’s financial case. There is, however, no finding that any of those transfers was illegal.

According to BuLi News, the signings were Jérôme Boateng from Hamburg for €12.5m, Edin Džeko from Wolfsburg for €37m, Kevin De Bruyne from Wolfsburg for €76m, Leroy Sané from Schalke for €52m and İlkay Gündogan from Borussia Dortmund for €27m.

An independent commission found City had breached financial rules by misrepresenting finances, using sponsorship agreements to inflate revenue and reduce costs. The disputed sum exceeded £900 million for 2009/10 to 2017/18.

The panel also said City submitted inaccurate financial information and failed to fully cooperate. The club rejects the findings and plans to appeal.

The ruling does not state that Wolfsburg, Hamburg, Schalke or Dortmund received illegal payments, nor that fees were fabricated or registrations improper. The focus is whether City could have invested at that level while complying with the rules.

The commission concluded that, had the accounts been reported correctly, City would have exceeded relevant spending limits by a substantial margin. That links the signings to the wider case without changing their status.

Next steps remain open. Possible Premier League sanctions include financial penalties and sporting measures, but none has been confirmed. There has been no ruling to remove titles or to cancel any of the five transfers.

Source: BuLi News

“Artificial intelligence was used to assist in creating this article based on reporting from the original source quoted.”