Finance guru: Man City have ‘more than likely’ agreed new £400m-plus deal amid Etihad mystery
Man City have “more than likely” re-negotiated a new £400million-plus sponsorship deal with Etihad.
That is the view of finance expert Doctor Dan Plumley, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about City’s storied relationship with the UAE airline.
Etihad has been the Premier League champions’ primary shirt and stadium sponsor since 2009, shortly after Sheikh Mansour’s historic takeover.
The 10-year commercial deal was widely reported to be worth £400million when it was first signed in 2011.
City have not announced the renewal of the deal despite the fact that the reported contract length has now lapsed.
The club chose not to clarify the length and value of the current deal when asked by The Athletic last Thursday (17 February).
But Plumley suggests that City have almost certainly renegotiated the deal with Eithad by this point.
“We would anticipate that the deal had ended or is close to coming to an end,” the Sheffield Hallam University expert told Football Insider‘s Adam Williams.
“In fact, the deal with Eithad has more than likely been re-negotiated at a better rate by now.
“In terms of why they aren’t forthcoming with the details, it’s probably to do with power dynamics at the top of the game.
“The Premier League are looking to cap certain deals or keep them at a certain level. City abstained from the recent sponsorship vote.
“With the case with Uefa, that was a real win for City. Uefa came out of that looking pretty bad.
“So the club are now looking at this asking what else could they possibly need to prove.
“They have thrown the book at them and City have largely come out the other side unscathed.
“So there is probably a little bit of politics going on behind the scenes with the specifics of this deal.”
City were banned from the Champions League for two years in February 2020 after allegedly breaching financial fair play rules.
But the ban was overturned and their fine was reduced from £27m to £9m by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
In other news, pundit suggests Man City “worried” about Jack Grealish after critical update.