Were any current Man City players signed during charges period?

What the report says

BBC Sport’s Ask Me Anything team examined whether any of Manchester City’s current players were signed during the period covered by the Premier League financial-rules case. The article says no member of the present squad arrived as a senior signing between 2009 and 2018, the years in which an independent commission found the club guilty of breaches. City deny wrongdoing and have appealed the findings.

The piece notes that the longest-serving current first-team signing is captain Ruben Dias, who joined from Benfica in 2020. The next longest-serving arrival is striker Erling Haaland, who came from Borussia Dortmund in 2022. BBC Sport also points out that all other senior players were signed later, between 2023 and 2026.

One important exception is Phil Foden, who was at the club during part of the breached period but came through Manchester City’s academy rather than being signed from another team. Rico Lewis is in a similar category, having progressed through the academy and making his senior debut only in 2022.

The question matters because it separates the squad currently on the pitch from the historical period under scrutiny. As a general point, academy graduates are not treated the same way as external transfers when tracking recruitment timelines, which helps explain why City’s current squad does not include a senior player signed during the charged years.