Fifa Investigation Into Manchester City Conduct Over Youth Players Remains ‘Ongoing’

An investigation into Manchester City’s conduct involving youth players is “ongoing”, Fifa has confirmed.

A day after it emerged Chelsea were being probed over a potential breach of the governing body’s regulations, City were revealed to be under similar scrutiny.

The club denied any knowledge of the investigation on Wednesday and questioned whether it was the same inquiry into their recruitment of Benjamin Garre from Velez Sarsfield, which was exclusively revealed by Telegraph Sport a year ago.

City were cleared by Fifa of “trafficking” the youngster, although the outcome of Velez’s appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is still pending.

The governing body refused to confirm whether the “ongoing” investigation related to a separate matter, while City did not responded to a request for them to seek clarification.

The club were found guilty of tapping-up two schoolboys by the Premier League in May and were banned from signing academy players from English sides for at least one year, as well as being fined £300,000.

Fifa’s investigation into Chelsea’s pursuit of foreign players under the age of 18 is its third in eight years.

The club overturned a transfer ban imposed in 2009 over their 2007 recruitment of Gael Kakuta from Lens, while last year saw them probed about Bertrand Traore’s move to Stamford Bridge after pictures emerged of the midfielder playing for them before he had international clearance.

Atletico Madrid are currently under a transfer embargo for breaching rules over the signing of minors, a decision that was upheld on appeal to CAS.

Real Madrid were also banned from recruiting players last year, with their punishment later reduced from two transfer windows to one.

Any potential breach of the rules by Chelsea was described as less serious than that by their Spanish rivals.

A club spokesman said: “Chelsea FC complies with all Fifa statutes and regulations when recruiting players.”

Liverpool and have also been punished this year over the tapping-up of a Stoke City schoolboy.

On Wednesday, they and the Premier League finally agreed to pay the private school fees and compensation of the boy, who had been left unable to join another academy until Stoke were given £49,000, with his parents saddled with thousands of pounds of debt in school fees.

Telegraph UK