Manchester City have dropped the biggest indicator that they do not expect to be severely punished for their 115-plus alleged rule breaches after tying Erling Haaland down to the longest contract in Premier League history.

The Norwegian signed a close-to 115-month, nine-and-a-half-year, contract, signalling his intentions to stay at City for the majority of his career. The deal, which runs until 2034, is understood to have removed any release clause included in his previous deal which would have ended in 2027.

The striker has netted 79 goals in 87 Premier League games for City - earning the Golden Boot award in both his seasons playing in England. Liverpool's frequent title rivals currently face more than 115 breaches of the Premier League's financial rules covering the period between 2009 and 2018.

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An independent commission is expected to give a verdict on the breach during the Spring of this year with speculated punishments including heavy fines and potential points deductions for the Manchester club. City have consistently denied any breaches with manager Pep Guardiola stating he was "fully convinced" his side was innocent when the news first broke.

It seems the club is confident of beating the charges as it continues to attract top talents to the Etihad despite the looming prospect of points deductions - with potential expulsion from the Premier League also being speculated as a potential punishment.

Football finance guru Kieran Maguire has insisted that the Premier League will struggle to relegate the English champions if they are found guilty, but could impose a points deduction that would make relegation to the Championship inevitable in a major claim as Liverpool and other clubs await an outcome to the case.

If this were to happen, it would be expected that City's premium players, such as Haaland, would jump ship to continue playing at Europe's highest level. The most notable case of a similar incident is the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal in Italy which saw Serie A champions Juventus stripped of their title and relegated to the second division.

Key players such as Alessandro Del Piero, Pavel Nedved and Gianluigi Buffon stayed with the Old Lady while Fabio Cannavaro, Patrick Vieira and Zlatan Ibrahimovic decided to leave the Bianconeri that summer. But Haaland's new and lucrative deal appears to be a clear indication that he expects to stay with the club for a long time.

In fact, the forward would be 34 years old at the time of the contract expiration. The Blue half of Manchester has been in unrecognisable form this season, currently sitting in 6th position - 12 points off leaders Liverpool.