Manchester City have been among the English football's biggest spenders since coming under new ownership in 2008, but new Premier League charges have accused them of multiple breaches of financial rules.
City have been accused of more than 100 separate financial fair play breaches, relating to the period between 2009 and 2018. The Manchester club won three of their six Premier League titles during that period, including their first of four under current manager Pep Guardiola.
The reigning champions could face any of a number of sanctions following the charges. These include points deductions, stripping of titles or even expulsion from the Premier League.
Back in 2018, City chief Ferran Soriano was asked by the BBC about alleged breaches of transfer rules. The 55-year-old, who took over as City's CEO in 2012, declined to comment on the allegations.
The Premier League opened an investigation in 2019, following the publication of leaked documents by German outlet Der Spiegel. “In accordance with Premier League Rule W.82.1, the Premier League confirms that it has today referred a number of alleged breaches of the Premier League Rules by Manchester City Football Club to a Commission,” a statement from the league read.
According to figures from Transfermarkt, City spent around €1.44bn (now equivalent to £1.28bn) on new players between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons, while recouping less than £400m in player sales. Here, Mirror Football takes a closer look at their spending over that period.
2009-10
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Manchester City were taken over with little time to do business before the summer transfer window shut in 2008, but in 2009 they had a full close-season to bring in new faces. Perhaps the highest-profile deal that summer saw Carlos Tevez move to Eastlands, having spent the previous two seasons with neighbours Manchester United.
Argentina star Tevez was one of a number of new additions made with Mark Hughes still in the dugout. Premier League stalwarts Gareth Barry and Joleon Lescott also joined the club, while striker Emmanuel Adebayor arrived from Arsenal and embarked on an infamous celebration after scoring against his former club.
While there were loans and free transfers, the only other players to arrive for a fee over the summer were Adebayor's former Arsenal team-mate Kolo Toure and Paraguay striker Roque Santa Cruz. Adam Johnson joined the club in January, in a deal worth around £7m.
2010-11
After narrowly missing out on Champions League qualification in 2010, City - with new manager Roberto Mancini overseeing his first summer window - went big. Kolo Toure's brother Yaya was one of the higher-profile additions, arriving from Barcelona having won back-to-back La Liga titles under Guardiola.
Toure was a number of 2010 signings who gave City plenty of years of service. David Silva also arrived that summer, as did Aleksandar Kolarov and James Milner, and all of them were part of title-winning sides under both Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini.
Mario Balotelli was another summer arrival, while fellow new boy Jerome Boateng didn't last long at City before returning to Germany. The most expensive signing came in January, though, with Edin Dzeko snapped up from Wolfsburg in a £27m move.
2011-12
The 2011-12 season brought City's first league title of the Premier League era. They made fewer signings than the previous summer, but the most expensive addition - Sergio Aguero - played a decisive role in the run to glory under Mancini.
Samir Nasri, Stefan Savic and Gael Clichy were the only other summer additions, with the combined fees for the trio only slightly more than the £35m paid to Atletico Madrid for Aguero. Costel Pantilimon also joined, with the Romanian goalkeeper arriving on loan in the summer before the move was made permanent in January.
2012-13
City missed a golden chance to strengthen after their title win, and manager Mancini ended up leaving after failing to go back to back. Five players joined, all over the summer, and all five had left by the summer of 2015.
Javi Garcia was the most expensive addition, arriving for £17m from Benfica, while a move for promising Fiorentina defender Matija Nastasic involved Savic moving the other way. The others to arrive for a fee were Jack Rodwell, Scott Sinclair and Maicon, who played fewer than 40 league games between them for City.
2013-14
The arrival of Pellegrini as manager was followed by the arrival of a number of new faces. Three of the five players who set City back a fee arrived from Spain, with Jesus Navas and Alvaro Negredo joining from Sevilla and Martin Demichelis making a cut-price move from Atletico Madrid.
All three had roles to play in the title win that season, but injury-hit striker Stevan Jovetic was less involved after joining from Fiorentina. The Montenegrin international played just 30 times across two league seasons before returning to Italy.
The most important signing that summer, however, was also the most expensive. Fernandinho arrived for £34m from Shakhtar Donetsk and went on to play more than 250 Premier League games for City, eventually leaving in 2022.
2014-15
As in 2012, City followed up a title win with some missteps in the transfer market. Eliaquim Mangala failed to impress at centre-back after a big-money move from Porto, while Brazilian midfielder Fernando failed to make the same impact as compatriot Fernandinho.
There were smaller deals for Willy Caballero and Bruno Zuculini, while Pellegrini added Wilfried Bony to his frontline in a big January move. The Ivorian scored just six league goals in 18 months, though, failing to help City win a third league title.
2015-16
Chilean manager Pellegrini was backed in a big way ahead of his third season, but was sacked at the end of the campaign after a fourth place finish. He did lay the foundations for future success under Guardiola, though, not least with the club-record move for Kevin De Bruyne.
The summer of 2015 also saw City move for Raheem Sterling after a long transfer saga, with the England international scoring 91 league goals for the club before his 2022 move to Chelsea. Nicolas Otamendi was another big-money signing who would go on to win league titles under Guardiola, playing 34 times in the record-breaking 2017-18 campaign.
City's cheaper signings proved less successful, though. Fabian Delph struggled for minutes before an eventual move to Everton in 2019, while the likes of Patrick Roberts and Enes Unal have had better luck away from the Etihad Stadium after never really getting a look-in.
2016-17
After replacing Pellegrini, Guardiola went about spending a similar amount to the £186m outlay of his predecessor's final summer in charge. Despite his past at Barcelona and Bayern Munich, though, the most expensive recruit was a Premier League star in the form of John Stones.
The Catalan coach did also turn to the Bundesliga in that first summer, though not to former club Bayern. Ilkay Gundogan joined from Borussia Dortmund and Leroy Sane arrived from Schalke, with both important to more than one City title charge.
Not all of Guardiola's signings were instant hits, though, with Nolito and Claudio Bravo struggling after moves from Spain. There were also a few additions with the future in mind, but the only ones to make a real impact - summer signing Oleksandr Zinchenko and January arrival Gabriel Jesus - both left for Arsenal in 2022.
2017-18
The 2017-18 season ended with Guardiola lifting his first Premier League title, thanks to a record 100-point haul. It began, meanwhile, with an even bigger summer of spending.
With Bravo enduring a tough debut season, Guardiola rectified the mistake with a £35m swoop for Ederson. There was also an outlay of more than £100m on defenders alone, with Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy and Danilo all joining while Clichy, Kolarov and the long-serving Pablo Zabaleta departed.
Summer signing Bernardo Silva and January arrival Aymeric Laporte have also had big roles to play under Guardiola, with both still at the club. The same can't be said of Douglas Luiz, though, with the Brazilian eventually sold to Aston Villa after work permit issues denied him action in a City shirt.
