Manchester City supporters have been warned that their spending in the January transfer window is not a sign that the club is confident of avoiding sanctions from the Premier League.

Since February 2023, City have been embroiled in a battle to clear their name after the Premier League charged them with 115 breaches of historical Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules. These charges date back to between 2009 and 2018 and mainly refer to how the Blues paid the salaries of players and managers in that period.

Throughout the battle, City have insisted they are innocent and have access to 'irrefutable evidence' that would clear their names. The hearing into the charges was finally heard at the end of last year, and we are expecting the outcome from the independent panel to be released imminently.

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In the meantime, City have been spending big in January as they look to address their position in the Premier League table. Omar Marmoush, Vitor Reis and Abdukodir Khusanov have all joined permanently this winter, while Erling Haaland has committed to a whopping nine-and-a-half-year new contract.

It has been suggested that such spending could suggest that City have confidence they will not be punished heavily by the Premier League following the outcome of their hearing. But speaking exclusively to MEN Sport as an ambassador for Bet Ideas, football finance expert at Sheffield Hallam University Dr Dan Plumley insists that the Blues' spending could be a red herring.

"I don’t think it is a sign that City are expecting a positive outcome," he explained. "It is still speculation at this stage.

"If you run the scenarios on that, you can run their January activity both ways in that regard. One, is the idea that they are spending because they anticipate no charges or not severe charges or they are spending because they might expect a transfer embargo.

"I don’t think driving it down either road gives you a definitive answer, you could spin it both ways. Irrespective of what they are doing in the January window, we still don’t know which way this is going to fall and we are still speculating."