‘These are allegations until proven’: Finance expert rejects calls for Man City transfer ban as financial case drags on

Football finance expert Stefan Borson has dismissed calls for the Premier League to place a transfer ban on Manchester City as the club awaits a verdict on its financial case.

City were charged with 115 alleged breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules in February 2023.

The case was heard between September and December 2024, yet no final verdict has been delivered despite the seriousness of the allegations.

While the case has been hanging over the club, City continue to operate normally in the transfer market.

They were the Premier League’s highest spenders this summer, forking out a staggering £440.3 million to bring in several high-profile players including Enzo Fernandez and Elliot Anderson.

That massive investment has paid off, with Enzo Maresca’s side boasting a perfect record.

Since their humiliating defeat against Arsenal in the Community Shield, City have won all of their opening four games across the Premier League and Champions League.

Meanwhile, former Football Association (FA) chairman David Bernstein has insisted that City should have been placed on a transfer embargo once the charges were brought against them.

“If in another industry, if say a bank, an individual banker, had 115 charges against him or her for let’s call it bad behaviour,” Bernstein said.

“Would they be allowed to continue acting as a banker, carry on their business and so on and so forth, dealing in whatever?

“I say they would not be, they would be in effect suspended for a period of time until their innocence.

“I wouldn’t do it, certainly, by sort of banning the club from playing or anything, but I think I would do it by putting restrictions on its ability to buy and sell players.”

However, Borson has dismissed that argument, insisting it would be wrong to punish City for allegations yet to be proven.

“It’s not happened in terms of Chelsea, Nottingham Forest and Everton or anybody else,” Borson said on talkSPORT.

“So the idea that you would hold City in some kind of status for two, three, four, five years is obviously not right legally and would create irreparable harm and prejudice.

“These are allegations until proven, and there’s a process by which they will be either proven or dismissed.”