Roberto Mancini has been quick to distance himself from Man City following media reports stating the latter has been charged with 114 counts of breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules.
Speaking ahead of Italy’s Nations League match against Türkiye in Bursa, Mancini, who was Cityzens boss between 2009 and 2013 and delivered them their first league title in over four decades, was asked about the verdict and gave a straight-bat answer.
“It’s not a problem that concerns me, for one thing.
“It’s nothing new, because I think it’s been coming up every now and then for four or five years. Manchester City isn’t guilty, and the dual contract issue absolutely doesn’t concern me. It’s their problem, if anything.”
Quotes sourced by Reuters
City are set to appeal the verdict, with club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak maintaining his side’s innocent in the whole affair.
As confirmed by Football Leaks’ Rui Pinto, Manicini held two separate contract during his time at Man City apart from the head coach role via his companies Sparkleglow Holdings in Mauritius and Italy International Services (IIS) in Rome, which in part entailed a consultancy agreement with Al Jazira Sports and Cultural Club.
Der Spiegel further reported in 2018 that City had made “hidden” payments to Mancini through “an Arab club”.
L’Espresso also reported on Al Jazira’s payments to Sparkleglow and IIS in 2018, while also stating that UEFA had deemed that City’s deals with Aabar and Etisalat were inflated well above market valuation
Update: The Premier League has released a statement in which it has confirmed that an independent commission has found Man City “guilty of all charges related to serious breaches” of its financial rules between 2009 and 2018. Man City have responded with a statement of their own, maintaining innocence and stating they’ll now “pursue the appeal avenues”.
