New documents shared by Football Leaks provide details of a number of alleged offences which are said to form part of a Premier League investigation into Manchester City.
Information from the documents has been made public as part of a report from German outlet Der Spiegel. The publication makes reference to three specific strands of the Premier League's investigation: one relating to underage players, a second concerning club sponsors in Abu Dhabi, and a third relating to former manager Roberto Mancini.
Manchester City declined to comment when approached by Mirror Football to address the allegations in Der Spiegel's report. Details of the three main bullet-pointed allegations are included below.
The first element covered in the allegations concerns underage players. "Underage players were allegedly pressured to sign contracts with Manchester City through monetary payments," according to Der Spiegel's report. The publication includes detailed documents and names specific players in its coverage.
Clubs are forbidden from providing payments to footballers under the age of 16, and this also applies to players' parents and agents. Players under the age of 16 are also forbidden from being transferred across international borders.
The second of these is what prompted Chelsea's transfer ban. In the Blues' case, a FIFA investigation began after their signing of Bertrand Traore, a product of Auxerre's academy.
In February 2020, Manchester City fell foul of the authorities themselves. They were handed a ban from European competition after UEFA found them guilty of "serious breaches of the UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations", but the ban was later overturned on appeal by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
City also saw their fine reduced to £8.9m from an initial £26.9m. "The club welcomes the implications of today’s ruling as a validation of the Club’s position and the body of evidence that it was able to present," a statement from City read after the ruling.
"UEFA notes that the CAS panel found that there was insufficient conclusive evidence to uphold all of the CFCB’s conclusions in this specific case and that many of the alleged breaches were time-barred due to the 5 year time period foreseen in the UEFA regulations," a statement from the European governing body read at the time. "Over the last few years, Financial Fair Play has played a significant role in protecting clubs and helping them become financially sustainable and UEFA and ECA remain committed to its principles."
The second strand of the FA investigation, per Der Spiegel, concerns sponsorship payments. The publication, in detailing the latest allegations, makes reference to its earlier articles relating to City's actions and some of football's financial rules.
According to Der Spiegel's report, "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 Sheikh Mansour himself". Sheikh Mansour is a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family and owner of Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG), which took over City in 2008 and is a majority owner of City Football Group.
The report cites documents "from the Football Leaks database". These documents make reference to a number of Manchester City's UAE-based sponsors and relate to deals active in the years since the 2008 takeover, and examines payments related to these deals within the context of financial fair play regulations.
The third strand relates to Mancini, who is now manager of Italy's national side. The Italian was appointed as Manchester City manager in 2009 and led the club to Premier League glory in the 2011-12 season.
According to Der Spiegel's report, Mancini signed a second contract in addition to the one he agreed when taking over at the English club. The second deal concerned consultancy services for UAE-based club Al Jazira, who count Sheikh Mansour as their chairman at the time of writing.
The consultancy contract is alleged to have been worth more than Mancini's base salary at City. Per Der Spiegel's report, which includes documents and emails allegedly providing further details of the arrangement, Mancini first received the Al Jazira consulting fees through an offshore company and later through one based in Italy.
Man City have previously responded to other allegations in Der Spiegel. A club spokesperson said in July 2020: "The questions and matters raised by Der Spiegel appear to be a cynical attempt to publicly re-litigate and undermine a case that has been fully adjudicated, after detailed proceedings and due process, by the Court of Arbitration for Sport."
