3 players who could leave Manchester City | UEFA Champions League 2019-20

While Leicester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers were battling it out on a rainy night at the Molineux Stadium, English football, and Manchester City in particular received the shock of its life. UEFA announced that they have decided to ban Manchester City from every competition organized by them, for the next two seasons.

Alongside that, they have also fined the Cityzens around £25m (€30m). This was done after an investigation by the governing body of football in Europe, which found out that City have breached the Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.

The Adjudicatory Chamber of Club Financial Control Body accused the English side of “overstating its sponsorship revenue in its accounts and in the break-even information submitted to UEFA between 2012 and 2016.”

Now in all these years, City also went on to win the 2014 Premier League title. Though any concrete news is still to materialise, there are rumours that state, there is a possibility of points deduction from their total tally and going by the 2014 Premier League points table, if points are deducted from City's tally, Liverpool maybe crowned as the champions. This feels like a pipe-dream for the moment but football is a crazy game.

This verdict however, is not set in stone. City will now appeal against the decision in the Court of Arbitration for Sports. The official club statement read,

“Simply put, this is a case initiated by UEFA, prosecuted by UEFA and judged by UEFA. With this prejudicial process now over, the club will pursue an impartial judgment as quickly as possible and will therefore, in the first instance, commence proceedings with the Court of Arbitration for Sport at the earliest opportunity."

But if the verdict stands, City are in deep trouble. Not only will they lose a good amount of money that participation in UEFA Champions League generates, they also might lose a few players. Let us have a look at three players who can leave Manchester City in the summer.

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#3 Kevin De Bruyne

L iverpool fans want their club to sign De Bruyne

Kevin De Bruyne is perhaps the best playmaker in English football currently. Missing out on Champions League football would tempt a lot of top talents to quit Manchester City, and De Bruyne is expected to be one of them.

In 204 matches for Manchester City, he has scored 47 goals. He is also the leading the charts for assists in this season’s Premier League. Hence, it is very obvious that clubs would want to break their bank for him. Since the historic ruling from UEFA, Liverpool fans have been asking their club to splash the cash on the Belgian maestro.

Note: All statistics as of February 17, 2020

#2 Raheem Sterling

Raheem Sterling might be on his way to Madrid

While De Bruyne’s rumours are basically constructed solely by fans without any legitimate source linking him to Liverpool, the case with Raheem Sterling is a bit different. Sterling, the once wonderkid of Liverpool, has been a star for the sky blues ever since he has joined the team.

He has scored 89 goals in 226 matches for Manchester City. For a talent like him, it is quite understandable that any potential buyer will have to spend a whole lot - and Real Madrid are apparently ready with their cheque book.

A piece of news broke out today, which was a hammer-blow for the City fans. Numerous media outlets reported that Real Madrid are extremely willing to bring the English superstar to their club. It has also been reported that they are likely to spend as much as £180million for him.

It has been reported that provided the ban is not uplifted, City will miss out on £170m Champions League bonanza. This will stand in the way of Sterling’s lucrative new contract, and might tempt him to move to the Spanish capital.

#1 Sergio Agüero

Does Aguero remember what he said?

A specific quote from Sergio Agüero is being circulated across the social media after many years. The Argentine, who has been with City since a very long time, once said that he will not leave the club until they win the UEFA Champions League.

This quote has come back to haunt him now. Given that Manchester City are likely to miss their next two seasons in Europe, and the potential departure of stars, their hopes of ruling over Europe has crumbled. Now, it will be interesting to see whether Agüero will stay true to his commitment, or he will take a 180º turn.

Just like Sterling, Agüero has been linked with Real Madrid as well. Zinedine Zidane’s side could do with a goal poacher, and he fits their needs perfectly. The contract of Manchester City’s highest ever goal-scorer will expire in the summer of 2021, alongside Pep Guardiola.

He already has experience of playing in La Liga, as he rose to fame for his stint with the Los Colchoneros, Real Madrid’s bitter rivals. With Champions League dreams looking less feasible, Agüero might well take the way out.

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