Manchester City have been reliant on entities based in owner Sheik Mansour's home country of the UAE for sponsorship deals that have allowed them to outspend most of their rivals on transfer fees and wages in the past decade.
At the start of the 2020-21 season they had a squad that had cost €1.063billion (£974million) in transfer fees — the most expensive in global football. And their wage bill in a pandemic-hit 2019-20 season, when most clubs were cutting costs, was £351.4m, the highest one-season total in the history of English football.
The Mail on Sunday's analysis has compared City's commercial income with three Premier League clubs with similar traits: Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal, who all have 'Big Six' status, regular Champions League football over the past decade, large fanbases, and a history of success.