City have been charged with 115 separate alleged breaches of the Premier League's financial rules, spanning nine years from 2009.

The hearing into those alleged breaches finally got underway earlier this month but the process - including possible appeals - could yet go on for many weeks.

As previously reported by Mail Sport, the Premier League could be left with a legal bill of tens of millions of pounds even if they win their case against City.

According to The Telegraph, Premier League clubs fear that this expensive process could result in each of them receiving a smaller share of the income from broadcast and commercial deals in the future.

City are not the first club to face legal scrutiny from the Premier League.

There have already been cases pursued against Everton, Nottingham Forest and Leicester regarding profit and sustainability concerns.

The legal bill for the case against Everton rose as high as £4.9million. Everton were ordered to pay £1.7m, while the remaining £3.2m was paid by the Premier League.

City's case is not just big news in England. La Liga president Javier Tebas recently had his say when he claimed that the majority of Premier League clubs believe that City deserve to be punished.

Tebas has been a vocal critic of City and their spending model for years and he told Mundo Deportivo earlier this month: 'I have spoken with many Premier League clubs and most of them understand that City should be sanctioned.'