Premier League to base Man City sanction around 'mysterious' Chelsea case
The Premier League could potentially base an element of their punishment for Manchester City around the sanctions that they handed out to Chelsea in the summer.
That is according to former Everton chief executive and ex-Premier League board member Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, who insists that the league went "very soft" when it came to punishing the Blues.
The West London outfit were handed a £10million fine and a suspended two-window transfer ban after being found guilty of 74 rule breaches relating to the use of agents, which they self-reported back in 2022.
Wyness believes that while City's misdemeanours require "different context" to be put into place, Chelsea's punishment could potentially provide the framework for their sanctions to be scaled against.
Enzo Maresca's side were recently found guilty of 114 financial charges by the Premier League, but they are set to appeal against that initial verdict.
The prospect of relegation remains on the table for the Citizens, but that may not prove to be the full extent of their punishments.
Chelsea punishment to provide Man City defence
Everton’s former chief Wyness – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – believes that Chelsea's relatively light punishment is likely to be used as part of City's defence.
The Scottish businessman feels that the Premier League have set a precedent for themselves by not coming down on Chelsea as hard as they should have.
Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider's Inside Track podcast, Wyness explained how that could potentially impact the City case.
"Finding the sanctions to fit is going to be the hardest thing to do because while everybody's thinking that, City, if they're guilty, you've got to be punished. You've got to have sanctions that don't affect the innocent, i.e. the rest of the clubs as well," he said.
"A lot of the sanctions are going to be based around this Chelsea situation that went on, and the Premier League mysteriously went very soft on Chelsea in those sanctions.
"So that's going to give some other room for thought there as well. And when one regulator goes soft, then that becomes the defence for everybody else that goes wrong.
"There's a whole lot of different contexts we've got to put in place here. I'm hearing a lot of rushing to judgement and all the rest of it. But there's got to be some common sense here as to what is the best outcome going forward."
Enzo Maresca to turn his back on Man City
Wyness previously told Football Insider earlier this week that he expects Maresca to "enforce" his exit from the Etihad Stadium at the end of the season.
The boardroom expert does not expect the Italian to walk away in the middle of the campaign, but instead feels that his departure next summer is inevitable.
Wyness outlined that Maresca is sure to have an exit clause written into his contract for this scenario, given that the charges were still looming over City when he joined in the summer.
The boss has led his team to a 100 per cent start to the new Premier League season, but the situation has already changed drastically from the one that he walked into.