City's Accusers Have a £900m Blind Spot, Says Former Financial Adviser

The clubs lining up to bury City are the same ones that cashed the cheques

Stefan Borson has spent enough time inside the Etihad's balance sheets to know where the bodies are buried — and, more to the point, where the money went. The former City financial adviser has a pointed observation for the clubs queuing up to demand the harshest possible sanction against his old employers.

An investigation found that City inflated their accounts by £900million. Across the period from 2009 to 2018, roughly £1.2billion went out of the club in transfer fees. Wolfsburg, Monaco and Arsenal topped the list of recipients. The deals included Kevin De Bruyne, Edin Dzeko, Bernardo Silva and Samir Nasri.

And the cash didn't stop there. Tottenham Hotspur, Everton, Barcelona and Real Madrid all saw money flow straight from the Etihad Stadium. A wide network of clubs, in other words, grew fat on City's spending.

Now many of those same clubs are lobbying for a major points deduction, transfer bans, or even relegation to League Two. Borson, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, sees an awkward contradiction at the heart of that campaign.

"There is one big issue that all these teams have got, Premier League as well as European clubs, in lobbying for a very severe punishment," he said.

"And that's them being taken out of the market effectively."

He's not mincing words about where the money travelled. "That money went across Europe, it went to Arsenal, it went to Liverpool, Germany, to teams in France," Borson said. "City's money has filtered through the entire game over the last decade."

The clubs around the world, he argues, "benefitted greatly" from the 10-time Premier League winners. "They've benefited greatly cash-wise from the investment that's been made."

Which brings us to the uncomfortable bit. "If City lose their appeal, the taps will be turned off," Borson said.

The short-term picture, according to Football Insider, is that a host of City players would suddenly become available at knock-down prices. Arsenal and Real Madrid have already made contact with Erling Haaland, while Mick Brown believes Marc Guehi could finally join Liverpool. Rayan Cherki, Elliot Anderson, Enzo Fernandez and Gianluigi Donnarumma would have no shortage of suitors — nor would boyhood fan Phil Foden.

Cheap talent, then, for whoever moves fastest. But only in the short term. Once the Etihad chequebook is closed for good, the clubs who spent a decade dining out on City's money will have to find someone else to subsidise them. The taps, after all, run both ways.