Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has been discussing how the City Football Group may be set up in favour of Manchester City.
The City Football Group (CFG) was founded in May 2013 and it is the majority owner of several clubs with the largest being Manchester City, New York City and Melbourne City (per CFG).
CFG also has majority ownership of Belgian side Lommel SK and Indian club Mumbai City.
Alongside those clubs, the City Football Group has made investments in Chinese club Sichuan Jiuniu, Spanish outfit Girona, Montevideo City Torque of Uruguay and Japanese club Yokohama F. Marinos.
However, in the latest episode of The Price of Football podcast, Maguire explained how CFG may be set up in favour of Pep Guardiola’s outfit.
He said: “If we take a look at multi-club ownership, I think Manchester City and the transfer of Aaron Mooy is a classic example of eyebrows shooting up.
“Aaron Mooy was part of Melbourne City. He was then signed on a free transfer by Manchester City. His career there lasted six days before he went out to Huddersfield Town.
“So, Manchester City got a loan fee for a player who’d only been with them for a week and who cost them nothing and then 12 months later Aaron Mooy was sold for somewhere between £8-10m to Huddersfield Town.
“The critics will say, ‘Well, City have organised this, or rather the City Group have organised this, in such a way that the profits are taking place in Manchester City’s accounts because they’re the club who are most at risk in terms of Financial Fair Play.’
“If you recall Frank Lampard with Manchester City and New York City, that caused a bit of a stink at the time because nobody was sure where Frank was registered for a while.”
TIF Thoughts…
As can be seen in what Maguire had to say, he alluded to the fact that some people will believe that CFG is set up in such a way to provide a boost to Manchester City’s accounts as they are “most at risk” with FFP.
Do you believe that the City Football Group is set up in favour of Manchester City?
Yes, I think it could be
No, I don't think so
In the case of Mooy, it certainly does seem unfair on Melbourne City that Mooy was moved to Manchester City on a free transfer only to be sold to Huddersfield Town for £8.19m a year later (per Transfermarkt).
However, with the Australian outfit having finished 10th in the A-League the season before CFG took over in 2014 to finishing second in the most recent season (per Transfermarkt), perhaps it is evident that the CFG’s ownership is mutually beneficial for Melbourne City.