The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) sent shockwaves through the soccer world last week when they announced that Manchester City would be banned from the UEFA Champions League for two seasons after violating Financial Fair Play rules instituted to prevent clubs from spending more money than they generate. City will appeal the decision, so it may be downgraded, but questions arose immediately about the futures of the manager, Pep Guardiola, and star players like Kevin De Bruyne in the absence of European soccer. While Guardiola recently told his players he remains fully committed to the side, there could be a mass exodus at City in the coming months.
The last comparable scenario happened back in 2006 when a match-fixing scandal shook Italian soccer to its core. Four of the country’s biggest sides were found guilty of fixing referee appointments and betting on games. Of those found guilty, Juventus faced by far the harshest punishment — relegation to Italy’s second division and the cancellation of their previous two years’ league crowns. At the time, Juventus was one of the most powerful sides in Europe, led by world-class talents in Fabio Cannavaro, Alessandro Del Piero and Gianluigi Buffon who would, in 2006, also lead Italy to a World Cup title.
While many expected the big names to leave Juventus following the sentencing, a handful of the club’s stars like Buffon and Del Piero opted to stick with the club. As a result, the turnaround was quick: Juve won the second division in 2007, and by 2008 the Bianconeri were right back in the thick of things, finishing third in the league and returning to the UEFA Champions League after a two-season hiatus.
City faces much tamer punishments, and the situation is vastly different in other ways too. Many of the players who stayed at Juve were academy graduates who grew up representing those famed black and white vertical stripes — Del Piero had been at the club since 1993 while Buffon had been the starting goalie for over five seasons.
On the other hand, Manchester City is a side built almost exclusively through the transfer market in recent years. They owe their renaissance to Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi, who purchased the club in 2008 and furiously funneled money into it, eventually pushing City towards the European elites. So just how much loyalty will the likes of De Bruyne, 28, and Aymeric Laporte, 25, show when they’re in the middle of their primes and have only been at the club for a few years?
For Pep, I actually understand his desire to stay. The one criticism on Guardiola has been the fact that he’s been able to achieve such brilliance only because of the vast resources available to him at all of his previous stops. If he can manage this rebuild and take City back to the top, there will be absolutely no doubting his status as one of the greatest ever managers.
But for the players, while it would be romantic to see them stay and stick together through this difficult time, professional careers are too short to waste two years at the highest level — especially when they are not at fault.
Off the Crossbar: Utter chaos at City
