Roberto Mancini admits “double contract” at Man City and shrugs

Roberto Mancini, now in charge of Italy, acknowledged in a news conference in Turkey that while managing Manchester City he had a “double contract”. He was asked about the situation after the Premier League’s process over alleged financial-rule breaches.

Mancini, who led City to their first Premier League title in 2011-12, played down his link to the controversy, saying it “isn’t a problem that concerns me” and arguing the issue with having a double deal was “probably” the club’s matter. He also claimed it’s not new, because it comes up “every four or five years”.

The charges include alleged failures to provide accurate information about payments to players and managers across 2009-10 to 2017-18. The report points to evidence published in 2018 by Der Spiegel suggesting Mancini doubled his base salary of £1.45m for advisory work linked to Abu Dhabi.

City said on Friday that its case with the Premier League was “ongoing” and has consistently denied wrongdoing. Khaldoon Al Mubarak reiterated that stance to fans on Saturday, stressing the Premier League process “still has a long way to run” while their confidence in proving the club’s innocence remains.