As Manchester City’s European ban is overturned, credibility of Uefa’s FFP comes under question

Manchester City can breathe easy after avoiding the painful consequences of a two-season ban from European competition as a result of their successful appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The club can now look forward to the return of this season’s Champions League in August safe in the knowledge that it is not the final chance for Pep Guardiola and a cast of stellar players to win European football’s biggest prize.

Preparations will also begin in earnest for next season’s Premier League campaign, with City intent on wrestling back the title from Liverpool and now given more room for manoeuvre in the transfer market.

Here is a look at what comes next for City’s Abu Dhabi project, which has already reaped 11 major trophies since Sheikh Mansour’s takeover 12 years ago and how it will impact Uefa.

Read: Manchester City’s European ban – a timeline of events

Question marks over FFP

City’s successful appeal against Uefa’s two-year ban has once again raised questions over the effectiveness of FFP.

Qatari-owned Paris Saint-Germain had successfully won an appeal at CAS against Uefa reopening an FFP investigation into the French champions.

The system which limits clubs to not losing more than 30 million euros with exceptions for some costs such as youth development and women’s teams over a three-year period has helped cut debt across European football.

But its detractors point to the fact it maintains the status quo with traditional giants like Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich always enjoying bigger budgets thanks to their large global fanbases.

With the CAS overturning Uefa’s decision to ban Manchester City from European competitions, questions will be asked over how effectively FFP can ever be enforced at the highest level of the game.

Rebuild and replace legends

Liverpool’s thrashing at the Etihad came after the Reds had already sealed the Premier League title with a record seven games to spare.

City are still 21 points behind Jurgen Klopp’s men at the top of the table and the manner in which their title defence collapsed shows a rebuild is necessary.

That will be much easier to do thanks to the financial boost and lure for players of Champions League football next season.

Read: Time to activate Project Messi: Twitter reacts to Man City overturning two-year European ban

Just as importantly, there should now be no desire from players such as Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling to leave during the peak years of their career.

A knee ligament injury to Aymeric Laporte early in the season hit City where they most lacked cover, in central defence, after failing to replace departed captain Vincent Kompany. A centre-back is a priority in the transfer market, as is cover at left-back.

Another legend of the City project over the past decade will depart when David Silva leaves at the end of the season, but Phil Foden’s emergence offers cover in an area of the field City are already strong.

At 32, the club’s all-time top scorer Sergio Aguero is also nearing the end of a glorious spell in Manchester and his goals will not be easy or cheap to replace.

Keep Guardiola

Guardiola’s contract expires at the end of the 2020-21 campaign. Should he oversee a fifth season, it will be the longest he has coached any club after admitting to being drained by four years at Barcelona and three with Bayern.

City’s success is also rooted in the structure of the club off the field. CEO Ferran Soriano and director of football Txiki Begiristain are responsible for the club’s recruitment strategy.

However, the hiring of Soriano and Begiristain, who both previously worked with Guardiola at Barcelona, in 2012 was made with an eye to luring Guardiola to Manchester.

City won two Premier League titles prior to Guardiola’s arrival and have the financial power to compete after he has gone.

But the surest way to keep winning trophies is to keep him at the club for as long as possible.