Former Manchester United players are continuing to weigh in on Manchester City’s guilty verdict with the Premier League – and David De Gea is keen to know how many Premier League titles he may end up with by the time it all comes to a head.
A guilty verdict has been delivered on the vast majority of City’s 115 rule-break charges concerning the Premier League’s financial regulations. The competition accused the club of widespread financial cheating over an era of sustained success – with an independent panel hearing concluding in 2024.
City are set to appeal the decision but any punishment is now expected to follow, with some fans calling for the club to be stripped of the trophies they won at the time.
There had initially been confusion around the time period that the charges relate to, with the initial offences ranging from the 2009-10 season to the 2017-18 campaign.
There are then further charges surrounding failure to comply with the investigation, which range from December 2018 to February 2023.
With potential punishments on the line, former players are now looking to see what retrospective success may now come their way – including De Gea.
David De Gea (left) has echoed Rio Ferdinand’s calls to strip Man City of trophies following their guilty verdicts
‘So…… Let’s talk,’ he posted on X. ‘How many Premier League titles have I won then?’
De Gea played for United from 2011 to 2023, winning the league title in the 2012-13 season.
If City were to hypothetically be stripped of their recent titles, though, he could be quids in.
Man United finished second in the Premier League in the 2011-12 season – the year De Gea joined the club, were then also runners-up in the 2017-18 campaign, in which De Gea played 37 of the 38 league games, and the 2020-21 season, with the Spaniard featuring in 26 league matches.
Rio Ferdinand was also keen to state his case, posting on X: ‘Another Premier League medal to be added to the cabinet.’
Ferdinand’s United came second to City in the 2011-12 season, which saw Sergio Aguero score a last-minute goal against QPR to win the league ahead of the Red Devils.
The win marked City’s first-ever Premier League title, and they would go on to claim seven more top flight titles, plus a plethora of other trophies.
Former United defender Gary Neville has also previously called the case a ‘disgrace’ and ‘stain on the game’, while ex-midfielder Paul Scholes had formerly said a guilty verdict would ‘be bad for the integrity of Manchester City’.
