Man City banned from transferring youth players for two years

The Etihad Stadium club's youth academy has been banned from signing new players for two years and fined $389,000.

The punishment is due to Man City breaching Premier League transfer rules. The club was found to have approached the parents of two young players who had already signed for other clubs. Man City's punishment will be further increased if they re-offend within three years after 30 June 2018.

Man City cannot recruit young players in the next two years.

The above regulation applies to all youth players who have been registered by clubs with the Premier League within the last 18 months.In April, it was reported that the Premier League were considering two moves for Man City youngsters, including an 11-year-old from Everton and a 15-year-old from Wolverhampton Wanderers. Man City have not commented on the matter.

Man City's youth team have reached the FA Youth Cup final in each of the last three seasons and are highly regarded among Premier League sides.

Liverpool were also fined for a similar offence after illegally approaching a 12-year-old player from Stoke City's academy.

An investigation found that Liverpool representatives met the boy and his family before they were allowed to. The club also paid for the boy and several family members to travel to Anfield to watch the match.

Liverpool offered to pay the youngster's tuition fees, something Stoke did at the time. This breached new Premier League rules that all academy players should be given the same benefits, with no preferential treatment.

According to VNE