Following UEFA's statement that Manchester City were found to be in violation of Financial Fair Play rules, rumors of a potential fine and limits imposed on their squad size for UEFA competitions circulated. On Friday, UEFA confirmed that City would be limited to 21 players -- down from the usual 25 -- in UEFA competitions next season and that they would be fined €60m. If Manchester City complies with break-even rules over the next two years, €40m of that fine will be returned to them.
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Manchester City, who will not appeal the sanctions against them, have also agreed to limit their transfer spending over the next two years, though that was always going to come with the territory. If they want to break even and get their €40m back, they can't spend significantly more than they make. They need to limit losses to €10m in 2015 to comply.
The good news for Manchester City is that they currently have a squad that's strong enough to deal with a couple of summers of limited activity. The Premier League's TV deal will also make it possible to do a little bit of spending over the next four windows, but still comply with FFP. This is a fairly significant setback for them, but nothing they can't deal with.
Buying prospects instead of players like Jesus Navas and Alvaro Negredo might have been a decent idea, though.