Manchester City banned for two years from signing players under 18 after breaking youth development rules
Manchester City have been banned for two years from signing players under the age of 18 and fined £300,000 by the Premier League over breaking Youth Development rules.
The breaches concern approaches to two separate academy players whilst they were each registered with another club.
Sportsmail understands City have been handed a two-year ban with the second year of City's transfer embargo on academy signings suspended for three years.
Manchester City have been banned for two years from signing players under the age of 18
City will not allowed to register any academy players in the Under 10 to Under 18 age range
The sanction is similar to the one imposed on Liverpool last month after being found guilty of tapping up a Stoke schoolboy.
Following an investigation by the Premier League, evidence has been found of activity at City which contravened League rules.
FULL PREMIER LEAGUE STATEMENT
The Premier League has sanctioned Manchester City FC for breaches of its Youth Development Rules. The breaches concern approaches to two separate Academy players whilst they were each registered with another club.
Following an investigation, the Premier League found evidence that the club's conduct prior to applying to register the players contravened League rules. This included evidence of contact between the club and members of each Academy player's family while those Academy Players were still registered with their previous clubs.
Manchester City will pay a fine of £300,000 and will be prohibited from registering any Academy players in the Under 10 to Under 18 age range who have been registered with a Premier League or EFL club in the preceding 18 months.
This ban will last for two years. The period of this ban from 30 June 2018 onwards will be suspended for three years to be activated in the event of any similar breach by the club.
In each case, the Academy player was conditionally registered with Manchester City while the Premier League's investigation was ongoing.
As a result of the club's breaches, the players' registrations will be terminated on a specified date, with no compensation rights retained by the club, and the club will not be permitted to re-register them as Academy players.
In addition, Manchester City has offered to pay compensation to each player's previous club, and maintain educational provision for each player until the completion of his GCSEs.
The two-year ban from 30 June 2018 onwards will be suspended for three years, but will be activated if a similar breach by the club occurs.
Both academy players were conditionally registered with City while the Premier League's investigation was ongoing, but the registrations will be terminated with no compensation rights retained by the club.
City are not the first club to fall foul of Premier League rules on development players this year.
