Man City: Der Spiegel alleges three-year Premier League investigation

Manchester City were taken over by owners from Abu Dhabi in 2008

An investigation into potential rule breaking at Manchester City is focused on illegal payments to underage players, inflated sponsorship deals and hidden salary payments made to a former manager, German newspaper Der Spiegel claims.

But Der Spiegel has now published details from its own investigation conducted in conjunction with the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) journalism network.

It offers detail on each of the three areas it claims form the focus of the Premier League's enquiries.

The Premier League and Manchester City declined to comment when approached by BBC Sport.

However, it is understood City believe the latest details are a continuation of previous allegations in relation to Financial Fair Play regulations, which they feel are designed to damage the club. It is thought the club also want to respect the ongoing process with the Premier League by not commenting.

According to Der Spiegel, the Premier League champions allegedly pressured underage players "to sign contracts with Manchester City through monetary payments, in violation of the rules".

Club sponsors in Abu Dhabi are alleged to have "provided only a portion of their payments to the club themselves", with the remainder reportedly made up by club owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the Abu Dhabi ruling family.

City are also accused of paying a "significant portion" of former manager Roberto Mancini's compensation "by way of a fictitious consultancy contract".

In 2020, City had a two-year ban from European club competitions overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport after Uefa had ruled they had committed "serious breaches" of Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations between 2012 and 2016.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport said City had showed a "blatant disregard" to Uefa's investigation into potential FFP breaches, even though it found "no conclusive evidence that they disguised funding from their owner as sponsorship".

Uefa began its investigation into City after Der Spiegel published leaked documents in November 2018 alleging the club had inflated the value of a sponsorship deal, misleading European football's governing body.

During testimony to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, a legal representative of the Finance Ministry in Abu Dhabi claimed Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development (ADUG) - which owned Manchester City until last year - was "completely unconnected" to the government of the United Arab Emirates or the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.