Manchester City’s current squad contains no players who joined the club during the period in which an independent commission found the club guilty of breaching Premier League financial rules. The commission’s findings cover offences committed between 2009 and 2018, a span that ended before any of the club’s present first‑team members were signed.
City has denied any wrongdoing and has appealed all of the charges. The club’s longest‑serving first‑team player who was acquired from another club is Portuguese centre‑back Ruben Dias. Dias joined the club from Benfica in 2020 and has since made more than 250 appearances for the Sky Blues. He is followed by Norwegian striker Erling Haaland, who arrived from Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2022, and is the next longest‑serving signing.
The only player who was part of the club’s senior squad during the breach period is midfielder Phil Foden. Foden, who was born in 1998, progressed through the City academy and made his first‑team debut in a Champions League match against Feyenoord in November 2017. Although he was a senior player at the time, he was not a new signing; he had been developed internally. Similarly, versatile midfielder Rico Lewis is a product of the academy, having made his senior debut only in August 2022.
All other senior players in the current City squad were signed after 2023, well outside the timeframe of the commission’s investigation. This means that the club’s present lineup is entirely composed of players who joined after the 2018 deadline, ensuring that none of them were involved in the alleged financial irregularities.
The information was provided by BBC Sport’s Ask Me Anything team in response to a query from Neil in West Sussex. The club remains committed to maintaining transparency and has continued to appeal the findings, while its current roster reflects a clean slate in terms of player acquisitions during the period of the alleged breaches.