Man City stars cannot simply walk away after financial rules verdict, leading sports lawyer explains
Manchester City stars including Erling Haaland, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Enzo Fernandez and Elliot Anderson have been linked with moves away from the club following the Premier League’s verdict on their alleged financial rule breaches – but a leading sports lawyer has warned that relegation would not automatically allow players to walk away from their contracts, TEAMtalk can exclusively reveal.
The Premier League confirmed on Tuesday that an Independent Commission had found City guilty of breaching the majority of the financial rules they had been accused of breaking, as well as finding the club guilty of failing to co-operate with the investigation.
The verdict has immediately raised questions about the potential consequences for Enzo Maresca’s side, with reports already suggesting that a number of City’s biggest names could consider their futures should the club face a severe sporting punishment.
Haaland’s future has been a particular focus, with TEAMtalk’s all new podcast also discussing the Norway international and the possibility of him leaving the Etihad Stadium.
There has also been speculation that release clauses could play a role in determining which players might be able to depart, while relegation from the Premier League could potentially create another route for some members of City’s squad to seek moves elsewhere.
However, TEAMtalk has spoken exclusively to one of the UK’s leading sports lawyers to establish just how straightforward it would actually be for City’s players to leave if the club were relegated.
Dan Chapman, Managing Partner and Head of Sports Law at Leathes Prior, explained that relegation itself would not automatically give players the right to terminate their contracts.
“If City were relegated at the end of this or a subsequent season as a consequence of a points deduction imposed by the Commission, it does not follow that by virtue of that players will be able to walk away from the club and their contracts,” Chapman told TEAMtalk exclusively.
“Whilst it is possible for any player to have negotiated a relegation release clause, those clauses are quite unusual and clubs would only in very exceptional circumstances have agreed to them.
“What is more common, in fact, is that the contracts will expressly provide for a lower salary to be paid to the player following a relegation.
“Is it possible that players who signed for City this summer, or signed new contracts recently, were advised by those representing them that the forthcoming decision of the Commission could potentially result in a relegation and as such protection was required for that player?
“We just do not know, but the point is that unless an express relegation release clause was negotiated, for it is certainly not a standard clause, it will not be an automatic option available to City players.”
That could prove significant for City given the calibre of players being linked with potential exits.
Haaland, Donnarumma, Fernandez and Anderson are among those whose futures have been discussed following the Commission’s findings, but unless individual contracts contain specific provisions allowing them to leave in the event of relegation, they would not simply be free to walk away.
However, Chapman stressed that relegation would not necessarily be the end of the legal avenues available to players who wanted to seek an exit.
“That is not necessarily the end of the matter however,” he explained.
“City players might try and deploy legal arguments based on either the premise that their employment contracts can be terminated as a result of their employer breaching the implied term of trust and confidence, or that they have just cause to terminate their contracts.
“Either argument comes with significant legal complexity and risk and without knowing precisely what players were told about the ongoing Commission proceedings at the point they signed their contracts, if anything, it is difficult to assess whether these routes may be realistic or not.”
That means the circumstances surrounding individual contracts and what players were told when they joined or renewed with City could potentially become important if the club were ultimately subjected to a relegation punishment.
The legal position could, however, be markedly different if Manchester City were expelled from the Premier League rather than simply relegated.
Expulsion would create a much more fundamental change to the club’s status and, according to Chapman, could make it considerably easier for players to argue that their contracts should be terminated.
Expulsion from Premier League may help players to leave
“Were City to be expelled from the Premier League, I think that is a different position altogether, and it is far more likely that players would be able to terminate their contracts though is still not necessarily automatic,” Chapman said.
That distinction could become crucial to the futures of some of City’s biggest stars if the club ultimately faces a punishment affecting its Premier League status.
For now, however, the legal position is considerably more complicated than some of the speculation surrounding the futures of Haaland and his team-mates might suggest.
A relegation would not, in itself, hand City players an automatic right to leave, while any potential contractual release clauses would need to be examined on an individual basis.
The possibility of players pursuing legal arguments to terminate their contracts would also carry significant uncertainty and risk.
But if City were ultimately expelled from the Premier League, Chapman believes the situation would be fundamentally different and that players would have a stronger basis for seeking to terminate their agreements.
With the consequences of the Commission’s findings now set to dominate the future of Manchester City, the fate of the club’s star-studded squad could become one of the biggest issues surrounding any eventual punishment.
