The talk of a fire sale at the Etihad glosses over a simple contractual fact: Manchester City’s players cannot tear up their deals and leave for nothing just because the club is in trouble.
That is the view of Dan Chapman, Managing Partner and Head of Sports Law at Leathes Prior, who told TeamTalk that relegation alone would not break the contracts between the club and its squad.
“If City were relegated… it does not follow that by virtue of that players will be able to walk away from the club and their contracts,” Chapman said.
Relegation release clauses, he explained, are rare at the top of the game. Clubs typically prefer to insert wage-reduction provisions that cut salaries if the team drops a division, rather than hand players a free way out.
Haaland signed with no escape hatch
Erling Haaland is the clearest example. The Norwegian striker signed a new deal in January 2025 that runs until 2034, and Spanish outlet Sport reported that the contract contains no release clause for relegation or any other scenario. Any club hoping to sign him on a free would need Manchester City’s cooperation first.
That calculus holds across the squad. Any player who wants to force a move would either need a transfer fee negotiated, or try to argue termination on legal grounds such as a breach of implied trust or “just cause.”
Chapman warned those routes come with “significant legal complexity and risk.” A player who simply walked out would face a claim from City for breach of contract, and any new employer caught inducing it could be dragged in too.
Expulsion changes the equation
The one scenario where exit arguments gain real traction is if the punishment is expulsion rather than relegation. In that case, Chapman said players would have “a stronger basis for seeking to terminate their agreements,” though even then an automatic right to leave is not guaranteed.
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Senior Premier League figures have told Sky Sports they would be “staggered” if the 15 clubs needed to vote for expulsion actually did so. A points deduction, fine, or transfer embargo is seen as a more realistic outcome.
Guilty on 114 of 115, appeal lodged
The independent commission’s verdict, confirmed by the Premier League on 29 September 2026, found Manchester City guilty of 114 of the 115 financial charges first filed in February 2023. The case covered the period from 2009 to 2018.
City lodged a “comprehensive” appeal at 7pm local time on 1 October 2026. Under Premier League rules the appeal must be resolved within 12 weeks of that filing, with the sanction itself to be decided at a separate, confidential hearing.
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