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The future of Manchester City-bound wonderkid Cavan Sullivan has been plunged into doubt following the Premier League’s guilty verdict.
In an exhaustive statement on Tuesday, England’s top flight confirmed that its eight-time champions had been found guilty of all but one of the 115 charges of financial breaches and non-cooperation originally levelled at the club back in 2023.
Man City announced earlier on Friday that they had appealed the ruling, which means that a newly formed commission now has 12 weeks to investigate the process by which the original panel arrived at its verdict. It is not a rehearing of the entire case.
The chances of Man City’s appeal being upheld appear very slim indeed. The guilty verdict can only be overturned if the new commission finds that the original judges made egregious errors in their ruling.
Considering the incredibly strong language used by the previous panel – speaking of “sham contracts” and accusing key witnesses of purposefully lying – the evidence to prove City’s guilt must, in their eyes, be overwhelming.
What this means going forward
Man City continue to strongly deny all allegations, and no sanctions have as yet been announced or even decided. This may happen simultaneously with the appeal process, as the punishment will be meted out by the original commission.
There is a lot of speculation about what might happen, but the truth is that nobody has any clue at this stage because of the myriad factors at play here. It is a story that goes way, way beyond football.
Should Man City face sanctions that could result in relegation or, in any case, hinder the club’s ability to compete at the highest level, keeping hold of the current crop of elite players will prove incredibly difficult.
As such, it has been posited that the guilty verdict could influence not just the current stars but also future players, such as Philadelphia Union youngster Cavan Sullivan, who is due to join Man City in January 2028.
The teenage sensation turned 17 last week and made his senior debut for the United States men’s national team. He is the biggest prospect in the US pool since Christian Pulisic and pre-agreed a deal to join Man City when he was 14.
This agreement has now come under scrutiny, with reports in Spain suggesting that Sullivan could back out and opt to choose another club such as Barcelona or Real Madrid.
In fact, last week, alleged comments from his agent made the rounds on social media, in which he supposedly said that the deal with City was only an agreement in principle and not yet legally binding. Those quotes turned out to have been fabricated.
Sullivan to City: The state of play
According to The Athletic, the guilty verdict has not altered the situation regarding Sullivan’s upcoming move to City after his 18th birthday. How could it change anything if no sanctions have been handed out yet?
His deal to join City in January 2028 isn’t merely a verbal agreement; it is a proper contract. As far as we know right now, he can’t simply back out or renege on the deal to join City.
In fact, being allowed to join City was a non-negotiable for him to sign the biggest homegrown contract in MLS history with the Philadelphia Union. Had they not agreed to sell him to the English powerhouse after his 18th birthday, Sullivan would have taken his talents elsewhere.
Although he couldn’t have moved to Europe at the time – unless his parents had a FIFA-approved reason to relocate with him – he would have been able to head across the pond and join one of City’s continental sister clubs just two years later, at 16, due to holding a German passport.
Sullivan has been one of the standout players in MLS since August. In September, he became the youngest-ever recipient of MLS’s Player of the Month award. The Philadelphia Union have been unbeaten in MLS since Ryan Richter took interim charge of the side in July.
Given the uncertainty surrounding Man City right now and the fact that he won’t join them for another 15 months, Sullivan is fully focused on the Union and the USMNT right now.
Were City to decide in January 2027 or next summer that Sullivan has outgrown MLS and would be better off somewhere in Europe, they would have to renegotiate their deal with the Union. However, they evidently have bigger fish to fry right now.
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