According to reports, Manchester City are still refusing to ‘agree to a settlement’ with the Premier League, and rival clubs are fearing a ‘massive problem’.

Last month, it emerged that Man City have been found guilty on 114 of their 115 charges after being accused of breaching the Premier League’s FFP rules and failing to comply between 2009 and 2018.

Man City were found to have produced several ‘sham’ deals to generate around £830m of fake revenue to expedite their growth and set up the era of dominance under ex-boss Pep Guardiola.

Despite this, Man City continue to insist on their innocence and have appealed, but their possible punishments include a huge fine, transfer ban, points deduction, expulsion and/or being stripped of their Premier League rivals.

A report from The Daily Telegraph claims Man City’s Premier League rivals ‘fear the massive problem’ of the FFP saga ‘dragging into next season’.

Man City still refusing settlement as ‘dismay’ at rival clubs revealed

There is ‘dismay’ at rival Premier League clubs about ‘City appear unwilling to agree a settlement that would bring the process to a conclusion during this campaign and end the uncertainty clouding England’s top flight’.

The report also claims City are ‘ready to explore every avenue to challenge and overturn the verdict’, and a source for the outlet has revealed the rival clubs’ response.

The source said: “The talk among clubs is that nobody can see it getting sorted out this season. That’s a massive problem because nobody is sure what they are playing for and whether or not the final positions will stand.”

Despite this, the head of the Independent Football Regulator, David Kogan, has intimated that Man City’s appeal should have a conclusion at the beginning of 2027.

“The Premier League have said that they want to get this resolved within season and actually, of course, it’s not the Premier League, it’s an independent commission that’s going to hear this, made of three retired judges or lawyers,” Kogan told talkSPORT.

“My understanding is there is a prescribed process, which is 12 weeks, and so people are assuming this will actually be heard by the middle or the end of January.

“But as I say, it’s not our process, it’s that of the Premier League’s independent commission. What I don’t think we can do is take any judgment until we’re quite clear.

“Obviously, City claim that they have some form of silver bullet to put off these charges and win the appeal, and we’re not there to judge whether that’s right or wrong yet, but I think we’ll know in the early part of next year.”