Arsenal – and a large number of others – can be forced to transfer important and sensitive financial information after a question from Manchester City.
As the War of the City continues with the Premier League, Mail Sport understands that lawyers acting for the club has asked that the competition is calling for one of its own rules and forcing a group of clubs that also include Brighton and Everton, among others, to provide details about loans they have received from their owners.
City then wants to use the information in their last battle with the competition on the changed rules for sponsor offers.
They say that new rules for the transactions of Associated Party (APTs) – introduced by the Premier League after City had successfully considered the previous version to continue to discriminate.
Their opinion is that shareholder loans, which often have favorable or zero interest rates, give clubs that they receive, such as the Gunners, an unfair advantage because they are not subject to the same research as other commercial deals.
All clubs have been informed of the request and will now be confronted with waiting to find out if they have to satisfy. The chance that this is the case may have caused a headache for the powers of the emirates when they prepared for the semi-final of the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain.
Arsenal benefited from £ 259 million in shareholders in 2022-23, while Liverpool owed owners FSG £ 71.4 million in 2023. Brighton benefited from shareholder loans of approximately £ 406.5 million in 2021-22, while Everton's figure was £ 450 million before 2022-23.
An independent panel, which previously ruled in favor of the city, will consider the case during a hearing mid -October.
Prior to that date, representatives of City asked the Premier League to use its rule B18, which states that clubs immediately meet every request for information '.
After their previous victory, City warned the competition against the effective adaptation of rules for APTs, which are commercial deals with groups related to club features. They have now implemented their threat to take legal action against them. After their first success, clubs were hit with a bill of more than £ 20 million.
The case is independent of the hearing of accusations in which City was accused of 115 alleged breaches of the financial rules of the Premier League. A judgment may only be delivered next spring.
If City again appears successfully, the Premier League could see its financial rules in disorder again with his clubs with a different substantial legal account.
The Premier League refused to comment.