The surprise problem leaving Man City players staring into an abyss

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Maybe it was just a coincidence. Marc Guehi and Nico O’Reilly gave the ball, and as a result goals, away. Rodri flew into a rash, and uncharacteristic, challenge and conceded a penalty, if not a goal when Harry Kane struck the bar. The common denominator, besides the fact each happened in Spain’s 3-2 win over England, is that they were Manchester City teammates last season. Thomas Tuchel denied his two defenders were distracted by the events of the previous day. It would be understandable if they were.

Rodri, too. For City alumni like him, there are legacies on the line. For the current squad, there are rather greater implications from the revelations the club has been found guilty of 114 of the charges the Premier League levelled. If so, City are highly likely to appeal. They are conscious at the Etihad Stadium that Uefa gave them a two-year Champions League ban in 2020 and it was later overturned. None of which guarantees a repeat and a reprieve now. With punishments potentially including huge points penalties and, directly or indirectly, ending up out of the Premier League, there might be an existential threat, even before factoring in the chance other clubs could take legal action against City which could radically reshape their finances.

All of which leaves players in limbo when, for many, their future had seemed secure. City have spent almost £500m on new signings in 2026, even before factoring in the considerable cost of contracts. But players had committed to them, too. Neither appeared paralysed by a sense of peril about what could transpire.

Guehi and Antoine Semenyo signed in January. Elliot Anderson, Enzo Fernandez, Ayyoub Bouaddi, Jeremy Monga, Iliman Ndiaye, Allan Elias and Geronimo Rulli followed in the summer. There was also a raft of long-term contracts: for Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku, Josko Gvardiol and Abdukodir Khusanov. Before then, Rico Lewis and O’Reilly signed five-year deals last September. Then there is a new manager, in Enzo Maresca, who was so eager to join City that he ended up having to pay £17m in compensation to Chelsea.

None came with a guarantee of trophies but, presumably, each arrived or extended his stay with an assumption that City would remain a force, a club likely to be in the Champions League every year and which could attract and retain high-quality players. Now, with everything up in the air, such certainties can appear destroyed.

Players and coaches may not elicit much sympathy, and not merely because of their pay packets. But if they were lured into a false sense of security, it may be in part because City have done a good job of acting as though it was business as usual; and for three-and-a-half years, it was. Perhaps players, like many in the fanbase, believed the club had “irrefutable evidence” of their position, as chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak put it on Saturday; perhaps they were reassured by his statement then. For years, Pep Guardiola was the most vehement in City’s defence. That might have given the dressing room confidence.

It does feel notable, though, that since City were charged in 2023, there is no evidence any player has left or declined to join because of the possible consequences of a guilty verdict. While Rodri and Bernardo Silva moved in on the summer, if they had been frightened about the independent panel’s ruling, they could have tried to engineer an exit sooner. When Kevin De Bruyne left, he had hoped to stay. Guardiola had extended his own contract during the years when the charges cast a shadow. So, most dramatically, did Erling Haaland, who has almost eight seasons left on the nine-and-a-half year deal he signed in January 2025.

Figures of such stature have options. It is apparent, too, that City have bought players who had admirers at clubs who were not facing a century of charges: Guehi had almost joined Liverpool last August, Semenyo was liked by Liverpool, Tottenham and Manchester United, Anderson was wanted at Old Trafford, Arsenal were apparently interested in Bouaddi, Spurs bid for Ndiaye. In each case, it now looks as though the footballer overlooked the worst-case scenario when making his choice.

Footballing logic dictates that, if City had to have a fire sale, most would get takers, and probably at a high level. But that is an opinion, not a promise; for now, each may be staring into an abyss.

One of the unanswered, but intriguing, questions about City’s recent history is what their most intelligent footballers – men such as Silva, De Bruyne, Rodri, Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanji and Ilkay Gundogan – had felt about the charges and the possible personal implications; were they privy to private information that brought comfort?

Now, while Dias remains, while City’s achievements in the last 15 years may be reappraised, the chances are that no one is coming for Rodri’s medals, and not least because the most recent of the Premier League charges dated from 2018, before he joined. But there are more immediate issues for the newer generation, the 17 players who are contracted until the 2030s and who may now be studying the small print in search of release clauses. Suddenly, their futures seem very uncertain.