Manchester City held settlement talks with the Premier League in the early stages of the financial breach case against them, according to reports.
Giles Turner and Lucca de Paoli report for Bloomberg UK that Manchester City held early-stage settlement talks with the Premier League, prior to the revelation that City had been found guilty of over 100 breaches of the English top-flight’s regulations.
The talks quickly fell apart, but if they had reached an agreement, it would reportedly have helped to mitigate the massive sanctions the club now face. Though it would never have resolved the case completely.
Both Manchester City and the Premier League declined to comment on the reports.
Bloomberg add that rival clubs like Arsenal and Liverpool would likely have vehemently opposed a settlement anyway, so perhaps it’s for the best that talks broke down.
It’s strange that City ever took part in the conversations to begin with, as they’ve repeatedly claimed they have “irrefutable evidence” of their innocence.
If their evidence cannot possibly be refuted, it’s unclear why they would need to reach a settlement, as they could simply have provided that evidence and been found not guilty.
Of course, it’s strange that City are still claiming to have that irrefutable evidence anyway. The evidence has already been refuted by the independent commission, unless the club chose not to provide said evidence at their hearing.
From an Arsenal fan perspective, it’s certainly positive that City and the Premier League aren’t settling. There’s no desire among rival fans to see a nice compromise, the biggest case of breaches in Premier League history merits the biggest punishment.
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