Finance

This is how much money Manchester City could lose if it doesn’t make the Champions League

Football - Manchester City v Watford - Barclays Premier League - Etihad Stadium - 29/8/15 Manchester City's Raheem Sterling applauds the fans as he is substituted Action Images viaReuters/Jason CairnduffRaheem Sterling of Manchester City.

Manchester City could lose out on £100 million ($144 million) if it fails to qualify for the Champions League, according to a football finance expert.

Rob Wilson of Sheffield Hallam University, speaking to the Press Association Sport, said the team would get “a little bit” from the Europa League, but nothing like the potential money from the Champions League.

“You lose out on the Champions League revenue – about a £50 million reduction, based on how City have fared this season in the Champions League [when they reached the semi-final],” Wilson said.

He added that the rest of the lost revenue came from having to inflate player wages to attract them to the club:

“The other impact we see with bigger teams that don’t qualify for the Champions League is the additional transfer fees and player wage packages they have to pay out.

“If you think back to when Manchester United missed out under David Moyes, they went and spent around £60 million on Angel Di Maria with a big wage package, and got Radamel Falcao in as well on big wages.

“What you tend to find is there is an inflation to get those type of players to join you when you can’t offer them Champions League football.

“That could be another £50 million if they try to recruit four or five players over the summer — a prudent estimate is £10 million per player.”

Manchester City is currently fourth in the Premier League table, which would secure it a Champions League place.

But its rival Manchester United is only 2 points behind, which means if City loses to Swansea on Sunday and United beats Bournemouth, then City would be out of the next Champions League.

Manchester City came sixth in the 2015 football club rich-list by accountancy firm Deloitte, with revenue of £366 million. A £100 million loss would have put it tenth on the list after Liverpool.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Most Popular

To Top