The football world has been reacting to reports that a decision on Manchester City's longstanding legal battle with the Premier League over an alleged 115 breaches of financial regulations may be right around the corner.
City are expected to be found guilty on the vast majority of charges of financial breaches in their legal case with the Premier League, a source has confirmed to ESPN.
In a statement, City didn't deny the verdicts and said that the process "remains ongoing."
When contacted by ESPN on Friday, the Premier League said they wouldn't comment on a "private and confidential process."
Friday's reports have given fresh impetus to speculation that City could be in line for a hefty punishment, with some hoping the major honours they won during the period covered by the investigation (2009-2018) could be redistributed to their beaten foes.
- Man City vs. Premier League: 115 financial charges explained
David de Gea, who was part of the Manchester United team that finished as runners-up when City racked up 100 points in 2017-18, wrote in a post on X: "So... Let's talk. How many Premier League titles have I won then?"
His former United teammate Rio Ferdinand posted: "Another premier league medal to be added to the cabinet."
Rodri, who left City for Barcelona this summer, said he believes "everything was deserved." Rodri joined City from Atletico Madrid in 2019, one year after the end of the period in which the charges relate.
"When you live daily at that club, all the people that worked hard all these years to have the success we had, Pep, the owners, all the guys who worked on it, they can't take that from us. It's something that isn't paid for with money, it's effort, partnership, standing shoulder to shoulder," he told a news conference ahead of Spain's Nations League match against England.
"We had a lot of success, here at Wembley, and I can tell you that everything was deserved."
Erling Haaland was due to speak to the media on Saturday ahead of Norway's Nations League match against Portugal on Sunday but head coach Stale Solbakken confirmed that, given the news surrounding City and what happened at Rodri's Spain news conference, it would be better for Haaland to avoid fielding questions on the issue. Fredrik Aursnes and Andreas Schjelderup attended instead.
Oasis frontman and City superfan Noel Gallagher, reacted to the news on the Let Me Talk podcast, saying he was "a little surprised when I heard it on the radio. Surprised because only that the club have assured us all along that they vehemently denied any of these charges.
"So it was a bit of a shock to find out that we've been found guilty of all but one. But really overall just quite sad really. Sad for the fans and for the players."
Asked if it changes the context of moments like Sergio Agüero's title-winning goal in 2012, Gallagher added: "Our focus as fans is always on the pitch and we know what we saw -- they won it on the pitch.
"Whatever goes on in the boardroom, it's nothing to do with the supporters or the players. The players won that game and won that title on the pitch.
"Whether some of those players should have been there or not, that's nothing to do with the fans. We were there, we know what we saw.
"Does it taint it? I suppose in the eyes of everybody else in England it would, but I know what I saw and I know what I felt."
Information from ESPN's Rob Dawson, Mark Ogden, James Olley, Gustavo Hoffman, Alex Kirkland and PA contributed to this story.
