Arsenal among clubs 'planning' £200m claim after Man City verdict

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Manchester City have been found guilty of 114 of the 115 charges brought against them for breaching Premier League financial rules — and Arsenal are reported to be among the clubs preparing to pursue compensation.

City are set to appeal the decision, and that process may not conclude until after the end of the season. A hearing to determine punishment, however, could be held relatively swiftly.

A fine, a points deduction or expulsion from the Premier League are all among the sanctions available to the commission. The Times has reported that City could even be stripped of Premier League titles won during the period covered by the breaches, between 2009 and 2018, though that outcome is described as unlikely.

The £200m claim

According to the Independent, Arsenal — along with Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham — have already preserved their right to claim compensation for lost earnings connected to City's success, with a potential £200m claim in the offing. Those clubs are said to now be 'planning' to launch an action.

Within the 2009 to 2018 window, Manchester United finished as runners-up in 2011/12 and 2017/18, while Liverpool were second in 2013/14. City qualified for the Champions League in each of those seasons.

The report also claims any legal action could extend to 'loss of chance' in subsequent campaigns. That is where Arsenal's case would sit: the Gunners finished as runners-up to Manchester City in both 2022/23 and 2023/24, and would point to missed title bonuses and lost Premier League prize money as a result.

Crucially, no claim can be filed until the case is fully resolved and the appeals process has been exhausted.

The Arteta connection

There is a footnote to all of this at the Emirates. Mikel Arteta spent three years as Pep Guardiola's assistant manager at Manchester City from 2016 until 2019 — a spell that overlaps with part of the period covered by the charges — before taking the Arsenal job in December of that year.

City have maintained their innocence throughout and, following Friday's reports, restated their position. A club statement read: "The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements to be completed, and subject to strict confidentiality. As such Manchester City FC's position remains consistent with the club's statement of February 2023."

It continued: "The club has diligently respected due process for eight years on the basis the Premier League board and executive would behave as an independent, impartial and fair minded regulator, free from partisan influence."

In that February 2023 statement, City said they were 'surprised' by the Premier League's decision to bring charges, adding that "The Club welcomes the review of this matter by an independent Commission, to impartially consider the comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence that exists in support of its position".

For now, the Premier League and its clubs wait. The sanction hearing may arrive quickly, but with City's appeal potentially running beyond the end of the campaign, any compensation claim from Arsenal and the other clubs remains some way down the road.