Maresca says Manchester City players are focused on Liverpool despite financial rules verdict

Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca said on Thursday, 8 October, that his players are focused on Sunday’s Premier League trip to Liverpool at Anfield, despite an independent commission’s findings that the club breached financial rules. City has appealed the decision, and any sanction remains undecided. His comments offered the first account of the squad’s response from its manager since the players returned from the international break.

Maresca told City’s in-house media that he was calm and that the club had been calm. ‘We trust completely the club,’ he said, adding that his staff and players were concentrating on the football matters they could control. Al Jazeera reported his remarks as City prepared for its first match since the findings were revealed. Maresca’s description of the squad’s mood is his account of it; it does not establish what every player thinks about the case.

What Maresca said before Liverpool v Manchester City

City had won their opening five league games and were top of the table when Maresca spoke, according to Al Jazeera. He said the players were excited about their next two matches and their start to the season. ‘They know that the noise is there, but they don’t care too much about the noise,’ he said. He described their immediate task as working out how to beat Liverpool at Anfield.

Sunday’s match will be City’s first since the verdict. The club is then due to host Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, 14 October, in its first home game since the findings became public. Those fixtures put Maresca’s comments in a practical setting: City must prepare for opponents while its appeal and the separate question of sanctions proceed. Neither fixture resolves the disciplinary case.

What the Premier League commission found

According to the league’s published account, the commission found that City used ‘sham’ commercial arrangements to inflate revenue and reduce costs. These included sponsorship agreements, arrangements affecting operating expenses and a deal involving players’ image rights. The commission found that the arrangements changed the figures by more than £900 million over the affected period, leaving the club’s accounts misstated and its true financial position concealed from auditors and football regulators.

The league said the commission concluded that accurate reporting of the agreements would have put City substantially over both Premier League and UEFA spending limits. It also reported a finding that the club made concerted efforts to frustrate the league’s investigation. These are the commission’s findings as described by the Premier League, rather than the outcome of the appeal. City maintains its innocence and says the commission’s opinion contains ‘clear material errors’, according to Al Jazeera’s account of the club’s position.

The case has unfolded over years. The league said its investigation began in December 2018, that it issued its complaint in February 2023 and that the commission’s 42-day hearing ended in December 2024. Premier League chief executive Richard Masters called the decision the most significant disciplinary decision in the competition’s history. He said a further process would determine what sanction, if any, should follow the findings.

City’s appeal and the unresolved sanction

The Premier League confirmed on 2 October that City had lodged an appeal with the Chair of the Judicial Panel. The league said the independent Appeal Board’s hearing would be private and confidential until publication of its outcome is permitted. Under the league’s stated procedure, an Appeal Board can allow or dismiss an appeal, or vary a commission order. No appeal outcome was reported in the material available when Maresca spoke.

The league’s rules permit commissions to impose fines, points deductions and other sporting sanctions, but none should be treated as decided in this case. The Premier League has said the sanction process will also remain private until publication is permitted. For City, its players and rival clubs, that leaves the sporting consequences unsettled. For now, Maresca’s publicly stated priority is the match at Anfield, while the disciplinary process continues on a separate timetable.