City1974 said:
More bile directed at City who are breaking FFP and getting away with it so they say:
https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blog...-city-have-pushed-it-past-uefa-134654778.html
Copy it please........
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Wilfried Bony deal can win Manchester City the league. The only question is how City have pushed it past UEFA.
Manchester City's canny decision to sign Wilfried Bony is the sort of move that wins titles - but they've ridden roughshod over FFP rules to force it through, says Jim White.
It appears Wilfried Bony has scored his last goal for Swansea. A £30 million deal has been agreed with Manchester City, and the Ivory Coast striker is expected to head north as soon as he returns from Equatorial Guinea, where he is about to play in the African Cup of Nations for Ivory Coast.
While nobody could dispute that Bony is some prospect, a striker of power and pace, who may well prove an excellent addition to the champions’ squad, his purchase seems a somewhat extravagant bit of business for a club supposedly operating under strict, UEFA-imposed transfer restrictions.
You will recall that, after being found in breach of Financial Fair Play regulations, City were prevented this season from spending more than £49m to buff up their already sizeable squad. Over the summer Eliaquim Mangala, Fernando, Willy Caballero and Bruno Zuculini were all bought to the Etihad for a combined total of £53m. In the same window £23m was recouped by selling Javi Garcia and Jack Rodwell.
It doesn’t require a degree in mathematics to wonder, then, how City have managed to fork out a further £30m this transfer window, a figure which will take their net seasonal spend to £11m more than the apparent ceiling imposed on them.
The answer is, they have done it by some creative accounting. They have, for instance, a guaranteed payment of £24m due in the summer from Valencia for the transfer of Alvaro Negredo, a payment they agreed to defer because of changes in the Spanish club’s ownership. They’re also looking to flog Matija Nastasic this window, a sale which might raise a further £12m.
So in other words, with a bit of wriggle and touch of if and maybe, the claim can be made that they are sticking to the imposed rules. When that money comes in and is taken into account, they are well within the level set.
And UEFA seems happy to accept that and sanction the sale. Which makes you question why they imposed such a specific figure on the club in the first place if they are so flexible about its meaning. Surely it can’t be to offer up a show of doing something to back up their rules when they are actually powerless in the face of entrenched commercial interest, can it?
Whatever the background (and whatever the fairness of imposing FFP on City in the first place when the rules were brought in to stop directorial exploitation of clubs, not punish the most benevolent ownership in the game) the fact is Bony will be wearing a sky blue shirt when he comes back from international competition.
And his purchase makes absolute footballing sense. He is a sharp finisher, an excellent passer of the ball, a strong and athletic leader of the line. Exactly what City have been missing while Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko have been injured.
The fact that both of them are likely to have recovered fitness by the time Bony is available to play does not diminish the sense of his signing. Both of them share a history which suggests the injuries they have suffered this season will not be the last. To have a player of Bony’s resourcefulness on stand-by is a precaution far more likely to bring success to the club than relying on playing James Milner as lone striker. This is the sort of signing that lands trophies.
It is doubtful, however, that Bony was sold on his new role by being told he would be on permanent stand-by in case of injury to more celebrated colleagues. He will be coming to the Etihad under the impression he will be selected for the first team whether or not his rivals are in the treatment room. He has said his main purpose in heading north is to play in the Champions League.
And that is another area where some creative number juggling is needed by the City hierarchy. Another of the FFP regulatory restrictions placed on the club was that its Champions League squad could not exceed 22 players. Already three fewer than its rivals in the competition, City now has to find a place for its new arrival by removing someone already on the list. Given that Aguero, Dzeko and Stevan Jovetic are unlikely to be demoted, then Manual Pelligrini will be obliged to look elsewhere and evict a midfielder or defender. True, if he heads to Milan as mooted, Nastasic would free up a place. But whether the manager really wants to alter the shape and balance of his already depleted squad will be a significant question.
Although given the way City have so deftly side-stepped the transfer restriction placed on them by FFP, maybe all they need to do is just add Bony to their list with the explanation that when Frank Lampard goes to America in the summer there will be a free place anyway. The way they have already blithely allowed their own rules to be circumnavigated, it is unlikely anyone at UEFA will notice
