City twice broke their own transfer record across the summer, first to secure the signing of Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest for £116 million and then to bring Enzo Fernandez from Chelsea for a joint-British record £125 million.

Those arrivals were among seven senior players who joined Enzo Maresca's squad at the Etihad Stadium across the summer, with the scale of that investment now sitting alongside the disclosure that club chiefs had been made aware of the commission's findings before the bulk of that activity concluded.

The independent commission's verdict - finding Manchester City guilty of more than 100 breaches of the Premier League's financial rules across a nine-season period between 2009/10 and 2017/18 - was made public on Friday.

The commission determined that the club had arranged "sham" commercial contracts with a number of sponsors during the period, under which those partners paid only a fraction of the relevant fees while the remainder was funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment and Development Ltd - the company that owns the club.

Parallel arrangements were found to have artificially inflated the club's revenues and reduced its costs by more than £900 million across the nine seasons, and the commission concluded that Manchester City had filed misstated accounts and concealed the true state of their finances from auditors and football regulators.

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said in the official statement confirming the publication of the commission's findings that the decision "establishes the facts of what happened at Manchester City during this period" and described it as "the most significant in Premier League history."

Manchester City responded with a formal statement declaring the club innocent of all accusations, citing a "comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence" in support of their positions and pledging to pursue every available appeal avenue on the basis that the commission's opinion contains "clear material errors, of law, principle and fact".

As reported by ESPN's Rob Dawson, Manchester City club chiefs were first made aware of the independent panel's verdict in July - before spending more than £450 million in the summer transfer window that followed.

However, the report mentions that an agreement to sign England international Anderson from Nottingham Forest was reached on 2 July - before the club had been made aware that the commission had reached its verdict.

Anderson formally completed his move on 23 July, though it is implied that an overwhelming majority of the club's summer transfer activity was done with a behind-the-scenes knowledge of the commissions' verdict.

City's formal position, set out in their public statement, is that the commission's opinion is unsafe and will be challenged through the appeals process.

The sanctions phase of proceedings has not yet begun, meaning the practical consequences of the guilty finding remain undetermined.

Sources familiar with the case have indicated that full resolution - including any appeal, sanctions and potential civil litigation from rival clubs - may not arrive until 2028 or 2029.

Maresca's side return to Premier League action after the international break having won all five of their 2026/27 league fixtures, sitting top of the table ahead of a trip to Anfield to face Liverpool.