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Manchester City guilty: Pogba hopes to recover two Premier League titles
Found guilty of 114 breaches of the financial rules, Manchester City awaits its sentence. Paul Pogba, twice runner-up to City with Manchester United, hopes two titles will come back.
by Lucas Morel · 2 min read
Questioned in the paddocks at the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday, Paul Pogba went for the joke. “I have nothing to say to be honest. I just hope it won’t affect the Premier League and that we can get two titles back,” the former Manchester United midfielder told reporters, according to RMC Sport.
The independent commission appointed by the Premier League has found Manchester City guilty of 114 breaches of its financial rules: misleading information worth a billion euros passed to the league between 2009 and 2018. The club has appealed and calls the ruling “unfounded”, riddled with “manifest material errors – of law, principle and fact”.
2012 and 2018, the seasons City took from United
In seven seasons at Manchester United, Pogba never won the Premier League. City denied him twice. In 2012, the two Manchester clubs finished level on 89 points, separated by goal difference. In 2018, City ran away with 100 points, 19 clear of United. The seasons at stake depend on who you read: RMC Sport points to 2012 and 2018, Foot Mercato and So Foot to 2017-18 and 2020-21.
Handing the titles over remains hypothetical: it would take a points deduction applied retrospectively, and no sanction timetable has leaked. Pogba, 33, has been without a club since Monaco terminated his contract this summer; the MLS looks his most likely destination, according to the Daily Mail.
Akanji hopes to keep his
Manuel Akanji watches from the other side. The Swiss defender, at City from September 2022 to September 2025 and now at Inter Milan, faced the press on Tuesday: “I hope to keep my titles,” he told L’Équipe, adding that he still speaks regularly with his former teammates.
On the pitch, the case is invisible. City top the Premier League with 18 points from 18, five straight wins in all competitions and a 3-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday. On Saturday, the Etihad hosts Ipswich: on Monday, a City win was priced at 1.26 at 1xbet, just under 78 per cent once the margin comes out. For the market, City remain an untouchable leader. Until the commission writes the sanction down, no odds will carry it.