Manchester City's 115 charges are still waiting on a ruling, but the bigger story may be what comes after. Liverpool are among the clubs reported to be positioning for compensation claims if City are found guilty, and sources close to the process have suggested some losses could be valued at significantly more than £100m.
Four clubs, Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool and Spurs, issued legal notices to City in 2024. That alone tells you this is not just a waiting game for one verdict. It is already a legal fight about what rival clubs say they lost along the way.
Why Burnley changed the temperature
Burnley have already shown how large these cases can get. They were awarded more than £30million plus interest from Everton by an independent Premier League commission, with £26million covering losses tied to relegation and £9.1million in interest.
That ruling matters because it gives rival clubs a working example, not because it confirms anything about City. Burnley were 19th in the Premier League on 21 points when that decision landed, while Everton were 12th on 49 points. The scale of the award alone has changed how people are talking about the City case.
The Times reported that some clubs believe their losses linked to City could be significantly more than £100m. That is not a confirmed figure for any claim, and it should not be treated as one. It does, though, show why the compensation talk has become so much louder than the wait for the verdict itself.
Khaldoon Al-Mubarak kept City quiet on the issue for now, saying: "Let me be as consistent as I've always been. Until we have a ruling, I can't say much. Once we have a ruling, believe me, we're going to have a wonderful sit down together and I'll say everything I've wanted to say for the last three years."
Why the numbers are being taken seriously
The sporting argument is easy to see. Liverpool are fifth in the Premier League on 59 points from 37 matches, while Manchester City are second on 78 points from 37 matches. Arsenal are top on 82 points. Those are the kinds of clubs that would say any past advantage mattered.
The case here is not that Liverpool have a guaranteed claim or a guaranteed number attached to it. The case is that the legal notices are already on record, Burnley have shown that compensation can be awarded in a Premier League commission process, and the reported values around the City dispute are large enough to make the next stage uncomfortable for everyone involved.
If City are eventually found guilty, the conversation will move quickly from verdict to money. If they are not, the claims go nowhere. Until then, the most revealing part of the story is that clubs are already preparing for the scale of the fight.
Compiled by the ClutchBrief Desk with AI assistance, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →