Two senior executives at rival Premier League clubs believe there is little appetite for throwing City out of the competition, according to Sky Sports.
The claim lands as City wait on the outcome of their appeal against findings of serious breaches of the league's financial rules. Expulsion sits among the possible sanctions available, though no decision has been taken.
Money talks, and it talks loudly
One executive described the prospect of expelling City as a commercial disaster the league would have brought on itself. The reasoning is straightforward enough: City's presence in the top flight is worth a fortune to broadcasters and sponsors, and removing them would strip the division of a headline act.
Fewer marquee fixtures would follow. Broadcasters might come knocking for refunds. Commercial deals across the league could be dragged into the fallout too.
That last point is where self-interest starts to bite. One executive argued that City's rivals would end up paying for expulsion as well, which tends to concentrate minds when the sums are counted.
City have become one of the competition's biggest global attractions during their period of sustained success, with players including Erling Haaland and Phil Foden adding to that appeal.
Not everyone sees it that way. Some clubs are said to believe that letting serious rule breaches go unpunished would do deeper, longer-lasting damage to the league's reputation. On that view, a short-term hit to the balance sheet is a price worth paying to protect confidence in the competition's integrity.
So the room is split. One camp counts the cost of losing City, the other counts the cost of keeping them.
Where the appeal leaves things
City lodged their appeal earlier this month and maintain their innocence. The club argues the findings against them contain material errors of law, principle and fact.
Everything now hinges on how that appeal is resolved. Until it is, the speculation about sanctions remains exactly that.