THE Premier League have accused Manchester City of breaching over 100 financial regulations.
The scale of the charges is unprecedented and so if the reigning champions of English football are ultimately found guilty then the club are likely to face severe punishment.
Some fans of other clubs believe City should be stripped of the titles they won during the given time period, which in this case ranges from before Sergio Aguero’s dramatic winner against QPR to Pep Guardiola’s reign.
However, at this stage it seems more likely that the club would face a significant points deduction, or possibly even expulsion from the Premier League.
No doubt there will be the mother of legal disputes before any action is taken but it’s clear the ramifications of this story could be huge.
gettyIncoming asterisks?[/caption]
Putting our Dream Team hat back on, City’s expulsion from the top flight would dramatically change the landscape of the game.
Assets under Guardiola’s watch have provided more points than players from any other club in recent years.
Their standards have dropped a tad this season but still there is plenty of City representation at the top of the rankings.
As a thought experiment, let’s take a look into an alternate reality in which the Etihad residents have been removed from Dream Team.
The headline news in this parallel universe is that Marcus Rashford (£5.8m) is the outright top performer this term.
Man United’s No10 has 190 points to his name, 66 fewer than Erling Haaland (£9.1m) but the prolific Norwegian’s 31 goals have been wiped from the record for the purposes of this article.
Kieran Trippier (£6.6m) has been promoted to second in the rankings, just three behind Rashford on 187 points, and Harry Kane (£7.9m) completes the podium on 166 points.
gettyDon’t look now, Erling…[/caption]
In the real world, Kevin De Bruyne (£7m) is Dream Team’s leading midfielder.
The brilliant Belgian is the Premier League’s top assist provider by a huge margin (his tally of 11 is four more than his closest rival has mustered) but let’s wave goodbye to his 135 points for now.
Suddenly, Bruno Fernandes (£5.8m) is top dog with 133 points – the Portuguese may well claim that status for real relatively soon as he’s in sensational form.
With Riyad Mahrez’s (£5.9m) 103 points eviscerated from existence, Bukayo Saka (£4.2m) has been bumped up to second in the midfield rankings and team-mate Martin Odegaard (£3.4m) takes the bronze medal.
The Arsenal pair have 103 and 101 points respectively.
To really ram home the surreal nature of this alternate reality, consider a world in which Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (£3.3m) is the fourth-best asset in his position!
gettyAlmost certainly too good for the National League[/caption]
CURRENT DREAM TEAM MIDFIELD RANKINGS:
Kevin De Bruyne Bruno FernandesRiyad MahrezBukayo SakaMartin OdegaardPhil Foden
DREAM TEAM MIDFIELD RANKINGS WITHOUT MAN CITY PLAYERS:
Bruno FernandesBukayo SakaMartin OdegaardPierre-Emile HojbjergCasemiroMiguel Almiron
Dream Team bosses should enjoy Man City points while they can!