Kieran Maguire: Man City lawyers to bypass £50m roadblock amid source’s finance reveal
The Man City legal team will be confident that they can defend the club’s big-money deal with Etihad from a possible new raft of Premier League financial rule changes.
That is the view of finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about a mooted revamp of the top flight’s regulations on related-party transactions.
City pocket £67.5million per year from their commercial partnership with Etihad, the state-sponsored airline of the United Arab Emirates.
The deal has, alongside several other of City’s sponsorship arrangements, attracted criticism because of Etihad’s close links with the club’s UAE owners.
Amid fears that the owners of some clubs have been using deals of this nature to circumvent, Financial Fair Play rules, the Premier League introduced a new fair market value assessment procedure last year.
A source has told Football Insider last Wednesday (11 January) that powerful voices within the Premier League want to introduce an annual £50m cap on all related-party transactions.
But Maguire believes that City’s lawyers will not see this development as a major worry.
“I suspect City will be relatively sanguine with a £50m cap on related-party transactions,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“The reason for this is that there are arms-length transactions between City and all of its sponsors these days.
“It would be increasingly complicated from a legal point of view to say that Eithad Airways, for example, is actually a related party.
“Therefore, I don’t see this particular rule being a barrier to either the likes of Man City or indeed Newcastle United, who have adopted a similar approach since their takeover.
“I think City’s lawyers will be relatively relaxed, as will the club itself.“
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