the times | Friday April 8 2022 67
Sport
an agreement for Brahim Díaz to move
from Málaga when he was only 14.
The document appears to show that
the ADUG agreed to pay €360,000
(about £300,000) in compensation to
Brahim’s youth club through an inter-
mediary company in Barcelona, which
then forwarded the money to the
Spanish club. The ADUG also paid at
least €4 million to Yaya Touré’s agentLiverpool will formally sign the Fulham
youngster Fábio Carvalho next month
after agreeing a deal worth about
£7.7 million.
Carvalho, 19, has undergone a medi-
cal with the permission of the Sky Bet
Championship leaders before his antic-
ipated summer move to Merseyside.
Liverpool are to pay £5 million, plus
£2.7 million in add-ons, and the
attacking midfielder will be contracted
until 2027.
The teenager has scored eight goals
Simon Pearce, a City director and
adviser to the Abu Dhabi ruling family.
City’s contract with Mancini also
reveals other details of his payments,
including a £4 million bonus for win-
ning the Premier League as well as
£3 million for winning the Champions
League, £1.5 million for the FA Cup and
£1 million for the League Cup. Mancini
has previously declined to comment
about the Al Jazira contract.
The allegations around youth players
include an internal email from Neil
Roberts, the director and head of
recruitment at the City Football Aca-
demy, asking about a “scouting agree-
ment... in relation to Jadon and his
agent”. The response has two agree-
ments with an agency attached, worth
£200,000 and £225,000 and signed in
May 2015, when Sancho was 15. Roberts
had asked to see the agreements after
receiving an email from Sancho’s father
asking for the payments to be made to
him “direct and not through the agen-
cy”. Sancho’s agent, Emeka Obasi, has
previously declined to comment.
Sancho moved from Watford to City
in March 2015, but there are questions
as to why City signed a deal with an
agent related to the player as FA rules
dictate that agents cannot represent
players until the year they turn 16. The
FA investigated allegations around
Sancho’s move to City in 2019 but did
not bring any charges. Der Spiegel also
released a document that appears to beCity’s deals with Mancini and
Sancho placed in the spotlight
between 2010 and 2015, with the pay-
ments apparently cleared by the club’s
chief executive, Ferran Soriano and
chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak.
Uefa initially banned City for two
years and fined the club €30 million for
alleged financial fair play (FFP) breach-
es connected to the sponsorship pay-
ments. The ban was subsequently over-
turned, and the fine reduced to €10 mil-
lion, by the Court of Arbitration for
Sport last year, which ruled that “most
of the alleged breaches were either not
established or time-barred”.
Two years after the launch of the
Premier League’s investigation, an
arbitration tribunal ordered City to
provide “certain documents and infor-
mation and to make inquiries of third
parties” but in July last year a Court of
Appeal decision revealed that City had
challenged the jurisdiction of the arbi-
tration panel and had, unsuccessfully,
challenged these demands.
One of the judges, Lord Justice
Males, said: “This is an investigation
which commenced in December 2018.
It is surprising, and a matter of legiti-
mate public concern, that so little
progress has been made after 2½ years.”
6 Champions League clubs could be
relegated to the Europa League if they
breach new spending rules approved by
Uefa yesterday. FFP has been officially
replaced by sustainability rules that will
limit spending on wages, transfers and
agents’ fees to 70 per cent of revenue.
The rules come into force in June and
will be be phased in over three years.Mancini’s lavish contract
Roberto Mancini’s contract details,
agreed in December 2009, emerged
yesterday. These are the key details
— not including a £1.75 million salary
agreed in another consulting deal.
6 £1.45m per season with increase
of £200,000 for each fourth-placed
finish or higher
6 Bonus of £4m for winning Premier
League, £2.5m for finishing second,
£2m for third or £1.5m for fourth
6 Bonus of £3m for winning the
Champions League, £2m for being a
losing finalist, £1.5m for reaching
semi-finals or £1m for quarter-finals
6 Bonus of £1.5m for winning the FA
Cup, £500,000 for losing the final
and £1m for winning the League Cup
6 Eight return flights between
Manchester and Italy each year for
Mancini, his wife and children
6 A maximum of £7,500 per month
towards accommodation costs
6 One year of English tuitionLiverpool land Carvalho
and has seven assists for Marco Silva’s
side this season. A deal had been struck
for Carvalho on deadline day in the
winter transfer window. However, Liv-
erpool were unable to register him in
time because he was going to be loaned
back to Fulham for the remainder of
this season. The clubs have remained in
contact since.
Lisbon-born Carvalho has repre-
sented England at youth level, having
moved to the country aged 13. Yet he
was called up by Portugal Under-21 last
month, with a passport problem mean-
ing he was ineligible to be selected by
England Under-21.Paul Joyce
Northern Football Correspondent
continued from back
SOCCRATES IMAGES/GETTY IMAGESPartey joins Tierney on
Arsenal treatment table
Arsenal have been dealt another
injury blow with fears mounting that
Thomas Partey could be out for the
rest of the season with muscle
damage to his right thigh (Gary Jacob
writes).
The midfielder was substituted
during the 3-0 defeat away to Crystal
Palace at Selhurst Park, joining
Kieran Tierney on the sidelines;
Tierney had a knee operation
yesterday. Arsenal have not put a
timescale on Partey’s return but have
five matches in three weeks coming
up. It limits Arsenal’s central midfield
options to Granit Xhaka, Mohamed
Elneny and Albert Sambi Lokonga.Tottenham at front of
queue for goalkeeper
Tottenham Hotspur are the
frontrunners to sign Sam Johnstone,
the goalkeeper who is out of contract
at West Bromwich Albion at the end
of the season (Gary Jacob writes).
They seem willing to match his
financial demands and, should he
join, he would be a back-up for Hugo
Lloris, who signed a two-year deal
until 2024. West Brom wanted
£20 million for Johnstone, 29, when
he was linked with a move to West
Ham United last summer.
Lukasz Fabianski, out of contract at
the east London club in the summer,
is expected to be offered a new one-
year deal until 2023.Newcastle squad playing
for futures, warns Howe
Eddie Howe has told his Newcastle
United players that they are playing
for their futures after a run of three
defeats that has thrust them back
towards the relegation fight.
Newcastle face Wolverhampton
Wanderers at St James’ Park tonight
with the gap to third-bottom Burnley,
who have a game in hand, down to
seven points. After the 5-1 defeat by
Tottenham Hotspur, Howe admitted
that he had been different with his
squad this week. “I think everyone is
always playing for their future,” he
said. “Every day in training and in
assessments I’m making judgments
on character, on attitude.”