The computer hacker who tried to take down Man City

Mention Rui Pinto’s name to Manchester City fans outside Etihad Stadium, and you mostly get blank faces.

But while they might not know his name, they are more than familiar with his work.

Pinto is the Portuguese computer hacker who tried to bring down City.

Through his website Football Leaks, he published a cache of confidential club documents, including internal emails about sponsorship deals and payments.

That ultimately led to the Premier League charges for breaching of financial rules and Friday’s news that the club had been found guilty of the majority of the 115 counts.

For some, 37-year-old Pinto is no more than a criminal who stole information with sinister intentions.

To others, though, he is a bastion of truth who has shone a light on the darker side of the beautiful game.

BBC Sport has been on a journey across Europe to find out more about the mysterious figure who was the catalyst for so much controversy.

We spoke to one of Pinto’s former teachers, a Portuguese politician fighting for him to be protected as a whistleblower, journalists who published the leaks, and a former financial adviser at Manchester City.

And we sat just a few feet from Pinto in the latest of his court cases.

With his cherubic face and spiky hair, Pinto is instantly recognisable. And it seems he hasn’t changed.

It is how Mario Falcao, his former geography teacher, remembers him.

In a small courtyard garden in Portugal, we got a glimpse of what Pinto was like as a boy.

“Rui was a perfectly normal pupil. He was nice, with his spiky hair, he was quite sociable but not extrovert,” Falcao said.

“He had a good relationship with the teachers, although he did miss these classes quite often. His father was always on top of things, so in the end he passed quite easily.”

Did he spot a strong interest in computers in a young Pinto?

“Certainly he was very good in computers. All the work that he did for various courses were very good, when he put his mind to it,” his former teacher explained.

The now-retired Falcao speaks fondly of Pinto, who he says behaved just like his friends and would “go to the gym, go to McDonald’s”.

Pinto had a modest upbringing. He grew up in an area called Vila Nova de Gaia, just across the Douro River from Porto, Portugal’s second-largest city. We visited the road where he used to live, which featured tile-fronted houses with terracotta roofs.

His school, Escola Secundaria Almeida Garrett, was well-regarded and was known by locals as ‘the university’.

His father, Francisco, worked in a shoe factory and later as an antiques dealer. His mother had died when he was 11.

Falcao said he never predicted what was to come of his former pupil.

“We were very surprised,” he said of the moment Pinto was named as the founder of Football Leaks in 2019.

“We weren’t imagining anything like this could happen, that he could have problems with justice.”

“I certainly wouldn’t wish him and his family to be in this situation. Perhaps it was a question of the excesses of youth, his ability with computers, and maybe an excess of club-ism.”

“So, you know, the fact that he supported FC Porto prompted him to commit some acts, but maybe he also felt the need for justice that young people very often do feel.”

Pinto set up Football Leaks in 2015, to - in his words - expose “the hidden side of football”.

Antonio Varela remembers the website’s launch like it was yesterday. The Portuguese journalist was the first person contacted by Pinto, whose real identity would not be known for years to come, and was initially known by the pseudonym “John”.

“It was a common day of September 2015. I was at the news room at [Portuguese sports newspaper] Record and I got an email from Football Leaks. It was strange. Then I immediately go to the site, and I can’t believe there is lots of information that you never heard or read. We made the conclusion this is very, very important.”

Re-publishing what had been leaked by Pinto brought legal and ethical conundrums.

“We realised that [Football Leaks] got the information illegally. But since the moment they publish the information on the site, that’s public information,” said Varela.

“You can’t ignore that. Ethically, it’s complicated, but the public interest is more relevant than the ethical issue. That was the conclusion.”

It wasn’t just eight-time Premier League champions Manchester City that Pinto targeted.

The early revelations on Football Leaks focused on matters closer to home, with leaks around Benfica and even the side he supported, FC Porto.

Later, there were leaked documents and communications relating to some of the world’s most famous players, clubs and agents, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Neymar.

Pinto agreed to meet a journalist, Rafael Buschmann from the German magazine Der Spiegel. Once he knew he could trust him, he shared tens of millions of documents with him.

It was then up to a team of journalists in the Der Spiegel headquarters in Hamburg to meticulously go through it all, producing some of the most explosive articles the football world has ever seen.

Christoph Winterbach, a data journalist, was part of that team.

“In the beginning it was very much a fascinating feeling of like a child in a candy store,” he said.

“If you’re a football fan, if you’re a sports journalist, it was amazing to see the actual documents, to see those emails where things are negotiated and to get a real look behind the curtain, how things work.”

“It’s very important when you have this type of documents, this type of data, that you make a lot of cross checks, that you use some software which we did that can put it all into context and you can see if there’s any reliability issues.”

“We always need to make sure that it’s authentic material and whenever we publish something about it, it needs to be in the public interest to start writing.”

Winterbach finally met Pinto in person in 2019, when he was being held in prison in Lisbon awaiting his trial. He conducted another interview with Pinto in witness protection, in a secret location with high security, describing the arrangements for getting there as being “like a Hollywood movie”.

He said: “Rui Pinto is not very tall. He has very distinctive hair, like spiky hair. He usually has red cheeks and he’s a youthful, cheeky, funny character. He’s friendly and warm when you meet him.”

“He’s a very impressive character, he’s very focused, he’s very concentrated. He’s very, very intelligent. He’s very idealistic about the topics that he uncovered.”

“He’s one of the most important whistleblowers that we have in Europe or maybe the world.”

In all, Pinto provided more than three terabytes - equivalent to about 3,000 copies of the Encyclopedia Britannica - of information to Der Spiegel and other outlets in the European Investigative Collaborations consortium.

We encountered stark contrasts in perceptions of Pinto wherever we went.

Former Portuguese politician and diplomat Ana Gomes has also met Pinto in prison and testified on his behalf at one of his trials. She is firmly of the view that he deserves to be protected, not prosecuted.

“What he has exposed is very important. In Portugal, definitely he is by far the most important whistleblower,” the former Member of the European Parliament told us in Lisbon.

“He should be made an ally of our judicial and criminal investigative authorities. He has helped the authorities of other European countries in going after the corrupt and the criminals, instead of being the subject of this judicial prosecution by the choice of our public prosecutors.”

When asked what she would say to Manchester City, who had their emails hacked by him, her answer is blunt.

“I couldn’t care less. If they have nothing to hide, what’s their problem?”

Jose Carlos Freitas, a retired journalist, said Gomes’s sympathetic view is not a widely held one.

“For the majority of the people, they look at him as a thief,” he said. “For some people, he is a kind of hero, a Robin Hood, you can say because he was exposing the dark side of the business of so many clubs, but unfortunately for the majority of the people, he is not a good person.”

Varela is on the fence. “Nowadays, I think I put him in the middle [between whistleblower and criminal hacker] because he got the information illegally. But he gave us, all of us, a view, a dark view of European football, so he did a job to the society illegally.”

Wherever you sit in the debate, he has faced serious consequences for what he did. As Winterbach puts it, Pinto “has powerful enemies through the work that he has done”.

For the past six years, Pinto’s life has been far from normal.

Having been arrested in Hungary in 2019, he was extradited to Portugal and has at various points been in solitary confinement, under house arrest and in witness protection.

Following his first trial in Portugal, in 2023 he received a four-year suspended sentence having been found guilty of attempted extortion, illegal access to data and breach of correspondence.

A separate trial in France resulted in a six-month suspended prison sentence a few months later.

And in January last year, Pinto’s latest trial began in Lisbon. The opening day at the Central Criminal Court encapsulated the realities of his life and the difference in opinions of him.

Pinto arrived with members of his witness protection team, two of whom stayed in the courtroom throughout the hearing, along with an armed police presence.

He was dressed casually in a blue, long-sleeved top, jeans and brown boots, and had his distinctive spiky hair and some facial hair. He was fairly expressionless throughout, aside from the occasional shrug of the shoulders or glance at his team.

We sat just a few feet from him, as he conversed with his legal team in hushed tones and spoke to the judge purely to confirm details like his name and age. When asked for his address, he said he could not give this for security reasons.

Local journalist Miguel Dantas explained the security arrangements were scaled back compared with the first trial, when he wore a bulletproof jacket and there were snipers on the roof.

Rui Patricio, the lawyer representing Benfica, told the court Pinto was “no more, no less than a burglar”, that he had obtained the information by “illegal and condemnable methods” and that the ends did not justify the means.

Outside court, Patricio added: “Our argument is very, very simple. He’s a hacker, period, just like that. What he did is not allowed - it’s a crime and there are no excuses. It’s very, very simple. Very, very straightforward.”

In his statement in court, Francisco Texeira da Mota, representing Pinto, accepted that his client was “not a hero and not a saint” but said he had brought “advantages for society”.

The impact of Football Leaks is still being felt a decade on.

The Premier League’s case against Manchester City has been one of unprecedented scale and significance.

From speaking to his legal team after the court hearing, it became clear Pinto has been closely monitoring that case from witness protection since the Premier League brought the charges in February 2023.

Asked if the outcome mattered, Texeira da Mota said: “I think it’s important for him because it’s very difficult to be like he is, living a very difficult life, more or less hiding, because he made some revelations, he whistle-blowed lots of important things, namely about Manchester City.”

“So it would be important for him to feel vindicated that it was useful, that something happened, because what of what he said.”

Speaking before the announcement of the decision in the City case, Stefan Borson, a former financial adviser to Manchester City, said: “I think for City, really, the whole of the Sheikh Mansour era is at stake if the core allegations are proven against the club.”

“I think the consequences could be very far reaching for the club, and it would be a very difficult thing for them to deal with.”

“Over time, clearly there would have to be some kind of reset. I think in many ways the Premier League is a loser either way.”

Borson’s view was that Pinto should not be seen as “some kind of warrior for freedom”.

He said: “We know that what he carried out was a criminal act and he’s been prosecuted for it.”

“We also know that hackers of that nature do try and reframe themselves as part of the defence process as purveyors of freedom of speech. But, once those documents are in the public domain, then I think it’s for the authorities to act.”

For some, Rui Pinto is a criminal hacker who stole information with sinister intentions. To others he is a heroic whistleblower who shone a light on the darker side of the beautiful game.

What is undeniable is that one Portuguese man on his computer in Budapest has had a seismic impact on global football.

The issues Mourinho is struggling to fix at Real Madrid

When Jose Mourinho walked back through the doors at Real Madrid this summer, 13 years had passed since he last left the club.

He returned with a familiar reputation and enormous expectations, but facing a very different challenge.

Mourinho was handed a three-year contract, with the club hoping he could restore stability as well as success after two trophyless seasons.

Now, seven league matches into his second spell, some of the familiar tensions of last season have already resurfaced.

Defeat by rivals Atletico Madrid has left supporters questioning Real Madrid’s consistency and Mourinho’s approach.

The Portuguese coach now has plenty of time to consider his options during an unusually long three-week international break. Madrid do not play again until they host Villarreal on Saturday, 10 October - and travel to Barcelona two weeks later.

Mourinho has concerns about the break, but it is an early opportunity to take stock and prepare for a run of fixtures that could tell us much more about the direction of his second spell at the Bernabeu.

For Mourinho, the derby defeat at Atletico Madrid was a sobering reminder of the scale of the challenge he has taken on.

Despite blaming much of the loss on two first-half decisions he felt went against his side - Cristian Romero escaping a red card for his studs-up challenge on Jude Bellingham and Lee Kang-in going unpunished for a similar challenge on Federico Valverde - the reality is that their performance was simply not good enough.

It means Real Madrid sit fourth in La Liga, with defending champions Barcelona already six points ahead. They have won all seven of their league games, scoring 31 goals, with Raphinha already scoring 12 times.

Atletico sit second and Real Betis third, both five points behind Hansi Flick’s side.

The only time Real Madrid have overturned a six-point deficit to Barcelona at the top of La Liga was in Fabio Capello’s 2006-07 title triumph.

A clear issue from the defeat at Atletico was Madrid’s lack of control in midfield.

Mourinho started Aurelien Tchouameni alongside Valverde, with Bellingham playing further forward. The pairing gave Madrid energy and defensive security, but they struggled to control the tempo or create enough from deeper areas. Bernardo Silva was introduced for the final eight minutes, but by then Madrid were already chasing the game.

That presents Mourinho with an interesting selection decision. Against opponents who defend in a compact shape, Madrid may need more creativity and control from midfield.

Silva’s ability to dictate the rhythm of a game makes him an obvious option, while Arda Guler offers another creative presence further forward.

Mourinho doesn’t necessarily need to abandon the double pivot, but he does need to find a way for Real to have more control of matches.

There is no shortage of individual attacking quality at Real Madrid. The problem is making it work consistently as a unit.

Against Atletico, Madrid struggled to create clear chances. Kylian Mbappe was largely ineffective and hardly touched the ball, while Vinicius Jr was substituted shortly after Dean Huijsen’s red card early in the second half.

Mourinho has three players, in Vinicius, Mbappe and Bellingham, capable of deciding matches on their own.

Bellingham’s ability to carry the ball forward, arrive late in the box and link midfield with attack is another important part of Madrid’s attacking threat, but Mourinho needs to ensure the trio complement rather than crowd each other.

Vinicius needs to rediscover the explosiveness and directness that makes him so difficult to defend, while Mbappe needs a greater supply of chances rather than being asked to create opportunities for himself.

There is another attacking option Mourinho could turn to more often.

Carlos Espi has already made an impression since joining the club, scoring the 90th-minute winner against Espanyol on his league debut before doing it again in stoppage time against Elche.

The 21-year-old has therefore shown he can make an impact when given game time.

With Madrid still working out how best to balance Vinicius, Mbappe and Bellingham, Espi offers Mourinho another option - particularly when Madrid need a focal point in the final stages of matches.

His early impact suggests he deserves more opportunities to show what he can do.

The other major concern is what happens when Madrid lose the ball.

Atletico repeatedly found space around Madrid’s midfield and were able to attack quickly, while Huijsen’s red card made the situation even more difficult. If Mourinho wants his side to press aggressively and commit numbers forward, Tchouameni and Valverde must provide enough protection when possession is lost.

Against Atletico, Denzel Dumfries, Ibrahima Konate, Huijsen and Marc Cucurella lined up in front of Thibaut Courtois. There is quality in that back four, but Mourinho will want greater cohesion - particularly when Madrid’s full-backs push forward.

Courtois’ performance showed how important he remains, with the goalkeeper making several important saves to keep Madrid in the game. The aim for Mourinho will be to reduce those situations and make Madrid harder to expose when attacks break down.

The veteran Portuguese needs to come up with some new answers to his team’s problems quickly, or there may not be much of a title race.

Clubs seek legal advice over Man City charges compensation

Premier League clubs are seeking legal advice about compensation after Manchester City were found guilty of the vast majority of 115 breaches of financial rules they had been accused of by the Premier League.

Sanctions on the club are yet to be announced, but repercussions could include a points deduction, expulsion from the Premier League or a huge fine. BBC Sport has been told that the club will appeal.

The news that City had been found guilty was broken by the Athletic, which reported that 114 of the 115 counts were upheld.

It came 1,327 days after City were charged by the Premier League in February 2023 following a four-year investigation, and 22 months since a hearing by an independent commission concluded.

No official announcement has been made by the Premier League, which has declined to comment.

BBC Sport has been told the independent panel has ruled, and the majority of the charges have been upheld.

Manchester City were accused of a wide-range of rule breaches which centred around claims that they inflated sponsorship revenue from connected companies and made other “off the books” payments to circumvent football’s financial rules.

The seismic decisions have left a huge number of questions about what will happen next, what City’s punishment might be and how the current season will be affected.

And one possibility emerging is that rival Premier League sides may take legal action for compensation, claiming they have been impacted by City’s actions.

A number of sides, prior to Friday’s news, had already started seeking advice over whether they would have a case for financial compensation.

One source, who held a senior executive position at one Premier League club before moving to another, said they expected clubs to submit individual compensation claims against Manchester City.

However, another leading lawyer told the BBC that process could even be centralised by the league.

Such a move is not unprecedented. In June, Everton were told they must pay Burnley £35m after they broke profit and sustainability regulations (PSR) over a three-year period.

Burnley argued the breach impacted their chances of staying in the Premier League, and sought compensation for the losses associated with being relegated.

Everton have appealed, with sources saying they would “robustly and thoroughly” contest the ruling, but it provides an interesting backdrop to the Manchester City case.

Other Premier League clubs have been formally told about the independent panel’s decision. A select group of club directors were informed by email and had to sign a non-disclosure agreement before they could read the document, a source told the BBC. It is not yet known when the decision of the panel will be announced officially.

Manchester City deny wrongdoing but being found guilty on the most serious charges means they could be looking at a points deduction serious enough to relegate them, large fines or even expulsion from the Premier League.

A sanctions hearing will need to take place to decide the punishment. That has not happened yet and could take months.

An appeal would then take place - and while it is possible the punishment is not made public until after that, there remains the possibility that any sanctions will be communicated before any appeal takes place.

An appeal process could mean the uncertainty surrounding the case continues to cloud the top flight.

It is understood a number of City players do not have relegation release clauses in their contracts in the event of the club losing their Premier League status as a result of any sanctions.

Manchester City declined to comment on whether they had been found guilty, instead providing a statement which read: “Premier League process remains ongoing with significant elements to be completed, and subject to strict confidentiality. The club has diligently respected due process for eight years on the basis that the Premier League board and executive would behave as an independent, impartial and fair-minded regulator, free from partisan influence.”

In February 2023, City were charged with more than 100 breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules following a four-year investigation.

The club was referred to an independent commission over allegations it breached financial rules between 2009 and 2018.

The hearing began in September 2024 behind closed doors and concluded that December after around 12 weeks.

The Premier League claimed City breached rules requiring the club to provide “accurate financial information that gives a true and fair view of the club’s financial position”.

City strongly denied all charges and have said their case is supported by a “comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence”.

The club won eight trophies in the period covered by the case, including three Premier League titles, three League Cups, one Community Shield and one FA Cup.

The charges cover the managerial tenures of Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini, and the first two years under Pep Guardiola, who left the club after 10 seasons at the end of the 2025-26 campaign.

A separate case between City and the Premier League was also heard last year.

In 2024, an independent arbitration panel found against aspects of the league’s Associated Party Transaction regulations (APTs) after City launched an arbitration challenge.

A tribunal held in February 2025 found the Premier League’s rules governing sponsorship deals from the period between 2021 and 2024 are “void and unenforceable”.

City and the Premier League reached a settlement in September 2025, with the club accepting the APT rules are valid and binding and both parties agreeing to terminate legal proceedings.

The rules were formed by the Premier League to prevent clubs from profiting from commercial deals with companies linked to their owners that are deemed above “fair market value”.

The charges against Manchester City include: 54 counts of failure to provide accurate financial information from 2009-10 to 2017-18; 14 counts of failure to provide accurate details for player and manager payments from 2009-10 to 2017-18; 5 counts of failure to comply with Uefa’s rules including Financial Fair Play (FFP) from 2013-14 to 2017-18; 7 counts of breaching the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) from 2015-16 to 2017-18; and 35 counts of failure to co-operate with Premier League investigations between December 2018 and February 2023.

There have been suggestions by the Times and football finance expert Kieran Maguire that the number of charges is as high as 130. BBC Sport has been unable to verify this.

Premier League joins call for Fifa reforms

The Premier League has joined three of its top European counterparts in calling for “fundamental” reform of the way that Fifa is run, claiming its president Gianni Infantino has “actively promoted exploitative ideas”.

In a joint statement with Spain’s La Liga, Germany’s Bundesliga, and Italy’s Serie A, the English top flight says it is speaking out “because we understand how Fifa’s relentless expansionism affects everyone”.

The four leagues say the shake-up is needed to make world football’s governing body “transparent, objective, proportionate and inclusive” and claim that “our sport cannot grow globally if its foundations are undermined”.

It comes days after Infantino proposed an external review of how Fifa operates amid the ongoing crisis over his failed plan to sell a stake in the World Cup to private investors, which sparked a global outcry.

Referencing “one of the biggest abuses of power in Fifa’s history”, the four leagues say that “while football’s stakeholders ultimately forced the withdrawal of the Fifa Forward Enterprise scheme, the conditions that led to FFE remain”.

The statement added: “The Fifa president has now acknowledged the need for reform, but it is not enough for surface-level, process changes to be explored in the aftermath of FFE – fundamental governance reform is essential to restore clear constitutional boundaries within Fifa, including confidence that individual disciplinary matters remain demonstrably insulated from political interference.”

That is known to be a reference to the cancelled suspension of United States forward Folarin Balogun at the World Cup after US President Donald Trump called Infantino asking for the striker’s ban to be reviewed.

“Fifa’s governance problem goes far beyond the role of one individual,” the leagues added.

“The wider question is whether Fifa’s president should simultaneously wield such regulatory, commercial and political power without effective checks and balances, including the agreement of affected stakeholders… governance that concentrates unchecked regulatory, commercial and political power in a single office, while relegating affected stakeholders to mere advisory status, is not fit for purpose.”

Fifa has been approached for comment.

The four leagues call on Fifa to; establish a permanent body representing key stakeholders, including leagues, clubs, and players from across men’s and women’s football which has “a meaningful role in [its] decision-making process”.

Ensure “evidence-based decision-making”, with any major proposal subject to an independent assessment evaluating the impact on all stakeholders.

Create a separation between Fifa’s regulatory role and its commercial function via “robust institutional safeguards to preserve trust, legitimacy and accountability” with ethics, financial oversight and electoral bodies “that are genuinely independent of the Fifa administration and presidency”.

Two years ago, Europe’s top leagues - along with players’ union Fifpro - filed a legal complaint against Fifa with the European Commission over what they claimed was an “abuse of dominance” by world football’s governing body over the expansion of the international fixture calendar and an alleged lack of consultation.

Fifa denied that, and accused some leagues of “hypocrisy” and acting “without consideration to everyone else in the world”.

They claim that their legal action “is a consequence of a flawed governance framework in which Fifa can use its regulatory authority to advance its own commercial objectives without accounting for the impact on the economic and social sustainability of national competitions that affect all stakeholders. This must change now for the sake of football”.

Despite three confederations calling for him to step down, Infantino has said he will stand for re-election in March, with his opponents having until 18 November to find an alternative candidate.

The four leagues want candidates to support their proposals and say: “Now is the moment to decide not only who will lead Fifa, but also how Fifa should be led. Leagues have a crucial role to play in this process, and we want to ensure that the voice of every league is heard.”

The letter is signed by Richard Masters, chief executive of the Premier League, Marc Lenz, CEO of the Bundesliga, Javier Tebas, president of La Liga, and Luigi De Siervo, CEO of Serie A.

Last month Masters told BBC Sport that Infantino had “pressed the self-destruct button” by delivering “a self-inflicted wound” over FFE.

How Man City overhauled their squad from a 650,000-strong database

Inside the confines of Manchester City’s sophisticated data operation is a fundamental phrase its experts work towards: “What does it take to win?”

In practice, the motto is broken down into three sections: identifying players, evaluating them and assessing how the club could improve them, all with a view to enhancing the statistical probability of City winning the Premier League.

Last season, the club’s data department projected they would be there or thereabouts when it came to the title race, but their metrics indicated Arsenal were favourites to be champions. They were accurate.

This time around, City prefer to keep their projections under wraps - but five wins from five Premier League games have prompted predictions from supporters and pundits they will again be the Gunners’ closest challengers.

City’s devotion to data is at the heart of their efforts to close the gap on Arsenal and BBC Sport has been given unprecedented access to the inner workings of the club’s metrics machine as we uncover some of the secrets guiding their work - particularly regarding player recruitment and sales.

Their work is a sign of the times in the Premier League, with clubs across the top flight and beyond increasingly using data for transfers and monitoring their teams’ performance.

At City, one of the fundamental aims is to reduce risk of any market transaction, be it a purchase or a sale.

City grade players based on overall characteristics and the system they play in at their current club and how the manager is asking him and the team to play.

Once those aspects are observed, City’s aim is to understand not just how good the player is but how good he could become at the Etihad.

Since winning the Treble in 2023, City’s squad has undergone a vast overhaul using this approach. Only four players from that historic campaign remain.

It is crucial to stress, however, that while data has made an indefinite impact on how City operate in the transfer market, the work of traditional scouts continues to be the primary gauge of whether they decide to move for a player.

“Data plays a role in our decision-making, but it is just one part of the overall picture,” City sporting director Hugo Viana told BBC Sport.

“We know data cannot tell us everything about a player. It cannot fully show a person’s character, mentality or behaviour. That is why we study data insights but focus on the expertise of our scouts and other specialists.”

The prominence of data, however, has grown significantly behind the scenes at the Etihad.

Here BBC Sport can take you to the core of some of City’s key transfer calls from their extensive three-year squad revamp - including the £116m signing of Elliot Anderson.

The starting point for any new signing is City’s database of 650,000 footballers from around the world.

The next step is the brief: what sort of player is the club wanting to recruit. This usually starts with a position, though that process isn’t as simple as it sounds.

City, for example, categorise their full-backs into three types: those who are defensive, those who come inside, and those who play high and wide.

Once the club’s data departments have the brief, filters that grade a player’s overall ability are applied to whittle down the 650,000-man database to 20-50 names.

Juventus full-back Andrea Cambiaso is one player who has been on City’s radar after the data highlighted him, particularly his ability to coming inside to build play in midfield. That he is comfortable with both feet rated highly on the data, too.

In accordance with the data and the scouting reports it was decided the club would not proceed with their interest in Cambiaso in the previous window, but City’s approach is likely to mean he will continue to be monitored.

The longlist of 20-50 names is cross-referenced with the scouting longlist. Generally there is a significant overlap between the players identified by data and the ones already on scouts’ radar.

From there, further, more refined metrics are applied to rank and prioritise the longlist.

Scouts will then complete further diligence on the players to reduce the list to a maximum of about six players.

At this point, the club will complete deeper dives into the remaining players, including diligence on their injury record, athletic performance and behavioural habits.

The information is then collated into individual reports called acquisition packs which contain all the key metrics used to inform the decision on a player.

This includes a ‘radar chart’, which rates a range of specific on-field metrics.

For example, when Jeremy Doku was signed in 2023, then manager Pep Guardiola decided he wanted a winger who was direct, akin to Leroy Sane, because at the time they had Jack Grealish and Riyad Mahrez, who preferred to keep the ball and cut inside.

Among the criteria applied in City’s brief were the following: making (running into) the box, pressure regains, take-on percentage and opposition-half pressure.

Doku’s overall numbers ticked the boxes Guardiola was looking for, although the Belgian’s ‘making the box’ score was among his lowest readings.

Since his arrival, Doku has improved this rating - an example City say shows how their data systems are helping to improve existing players.

There is also a ‘utilisation chart’ that records how often the player has been used over a three-year period, as well as a scouting grade that indicates how highly the traditional scouts rate the individual.

Each player is also awarded an overall “current impact score” - which predicts what impression he would be expected to make immediately on signing - and a “potential impact score” that projects the contribution the player could make in the future.

Perhaps the most intriguing reading on the acquisition packs is a player’s “action value score”. This positions them in a league table that includes City players and ones from rival clubs who play in a similar role.

Once the acquisition reports are evaluated, the list is further reduced to 2-3 players once City’s valuation of the player has been factored in.

Data contributes heavily to the price range City believe a player falls in, and the valuation is never a single number.

A decision is then made on which player is the priority, though all players on the shortlist are worked on simultaneously in the event of changing circumstances, for example if a player becomes unavailable.

Indeed, being able to move according to the market is something the data team feel they have become adept at.

The sudden emergence of Yan Diomande last season led to City completing checks on him before he joined Real Madrid from RB Leipzig.

The club also paid close attention to Eduardo Camavinga’s metrics in case Real decided to sell a midfielder.

Anderson was an obvious signing for a top Premier League club. The 23-year-old had developed into a key player for Nottingham Forest. An added appeal was the fact he is English, and had cemented his position in the national team.

City fought off other top clubs, including Manchester United, to sign him.

But the way City analysed it underlines their incredibly forensic approach even when, outwardly, it might be considered they did not need to be so comprehensive given Anderson’s obvious talents.

The fact they still used their algorithm and went through all their normal steps says a lot about elite football in the modern day - and also the limitations of data alone.

That is because - perhaps surprisingly - Anderson’s metrics didn’t necessarily catch the eye.

At the start of last season, despite emerging uncertainty over Guardiola’s future, the club knew they would be in the market for at least one central midfielder come the summer.

They knew Bernardo Silva was leaving while there were doubts over the futures of Rodri and Nico Gonzalez.

There was an acknowledgement that replacing Silva and Rodri like-for-like would be virtually impossible, so they looked for a player who was equally adept at building play from either deep or high central midfield.

As last season developed, doubt also emerged over the future of Tijjani Reijnders - but Enzo Fernandez was viewed as the favoured replacement for the Dutchman.

Anderson made the initial cut from the 650,000-man database to the longlist - but was not high in that group. However, his metric readings didn’t immediately scream out the “no-brainer” he ultimately became.

As City took a closer look, there was an acknowledgement Anderson’s case does highlight some of the limitations of data.

Anderson did not score lots of goals for Forest, or consistently provide assists. Because, generally speaking, Forest aren’t a possession team like City, his general metrics in their algorithm did not grab the attention.

With that in mind, City’s data analysts had to consider that, because Anderson was generally playing closer to his own goal than he would at City, he wasn’t getting the opportunities to impress in the final third of the pitch.

So they paid close attention to what he was doing at Forest and modelled his potential role in a City team that generally plays closer to the opposition’s goal, dominates possession and has more elite players.

Among the criteria graded on Anderson’s ‘radar chart’ were defensive regains, duel success, line-breaking passes, aerial-duel success and defensive errors.

With his reading for defensive errors, it was acknowledged that, because Forest were a transitional side, some were a result of the area of the pitch in which he was asked to operate.

He may, for example, have regained possession deep inside his own half but lost the ball because he had to play a longer and a riskier pass after being asked to play forward quickly.

In the same scenario at City, it is anticipated Anderson would have options to play a shorter pass with a greater success rate.

“Just because a player doesn’t have the opportunity to perform a particular action on a regular basis because of the team he is playing doesn’t mean he can’t do it,” said a source.

Anderson’s data readings improved significantly as the season developed, which compelled the club’s scouts to watch him on a regular basis.

He stood up very favourably against City’s existing midfielders - and a list of rival players the club had identified as possible signings in that area.

The results of the diligence completed by City’s data team, scouts and other experts meant that even though Anderson’s price increased beyond what City believed was his true valuation, they felt the risk was low.

“Elliot Anderson is a great example of how the process works,” Viana said. “The data was positive for Elliot and gave us real confidence in his profile, but it was the insight from our scouts and wider performance team that helped us understand the player and his attributes and this proved our belief that he was the right fit for the club.”

BBC Sport was also provided with fascinating insight into how data was used to sign Julian Alvarez from River Plate for £14m in 2022.

The initial recommendation came from scouts, and given Alvarez was not a player originally identified by his metrics, the data team had to take a closer look.

Because the Argentine league isn’t recognised as one of the strongest globally, City’s general data settings mean players will reach a natural ceiling with their readings in comparison to those playing in one of Europe’s top five divisions.

So, City dug deeper into Alvarez’s stats, and his impact on both the ball and River’s scorelines.

The stats showed he was by far the best player in the Argentine top flight, and City believed they had enough evidence to say he would develop into a starter for a top-half club in one of Europe’s top five leagues within two-and-a-half years.

The data model valued Alvarez between £26m and £40m. City signed him for £14m so believed they were signing an undervalued player.

Alvarez’s projected value was £70m after three years. They eventually sold him to Atletico Madrid in 2024 for £81m.

The signing of Abdukodir Khusanov from Lens also provides intriguing insight into City’s reliance on data.

The 22-year-old didn’t initially make City’s 50-man longlist, but on closer inspection they found while his output on the ball needed to improve, his physical data - for example his covering runs behind - was through the roof.

Khusanov’s on-the-ball metrics, City say, have improved significantly since he signed in January 2025.

The departure of Guardiola and the arrival of Enzo Maresca is not expected to alter the club’s approach significantly.

The key metrics Maresca looks for in a player are understood to be very similar to Guardiola’s, with the notable difference that the Italian prefers his full-backs to be more direct.

Rooted in City’s coach recruitment process is a certain team philosophy and way of playing, with any new manager expected to produce a side that is possession dominant, can press high, regain possession high up the pitch, produce quality chances and entertain.

That philosophy was designed before Guardiola’s appointment, and the Spaniard produced the purest form of City’s footballing ideology.

With that in mind, the change in manager has not drastically altered the way City’s data department approach their work.

Maresca will continue to work closely with them as he looks to build his own dynasty - but much of the hard work in building a squad to last is complete.

Before City’s Treble-winning season, the internal data indicators were such that the club knew they would soon need to overhaul a squad that had reached its peak.

Selling players such as Kevin de Bruyne, Kyle Walker, Riyad Mahrez and Ilkay Gundogan wasn’t easy given their illustrious service and the fact they were still performing at a very high level.

Data, though, allows the club to spot declining trends well in advance - often two or three years - before a player is offloaded.

Those particular metrics help City identify when the right time is to sell a player - perhaps even before the buying club have spotted a drop in performance.

And when those trends are identified, the club can plan well in advance.

From there the club decide whether to start embedding a player from the academy or enter the market to replace.

Ayyoub Bouaddi’s arrival from Lille this summer is a prime example. At 18, City realise he isn’t necessarily going to have a profound impact this season - but the club believe the Moroccan will be able to make a bigger contribution within two years.

After the Treble season, the recruitment remit at City was to lower the average age of the squad and build a set of players that could deliver sustained success.

But doing that at City comes with a catch. Because at City, the team are always expected to compete for trophies.

Lowering the age of a squad is one thing; doing so while continuing to win is far more complicated.

In previous years, for example, City’s data systems identified former Brighton trio Moises Caicedo, Marc Cucurella and Carlos Baleba, who have been lauded as data successes.

But there was a sense at City that the development of such signings would take too long for them to make an impact on a team that has the remit of winning titles or assets that could be developed and sold for a profit.

City have successfully lowered the average age of the squad to the extent they now have the third youngest set of players in the Premier League behind Newcastle and Chelsea.

But with the signings of goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, defender Marc Guehi, and Fernandez and Anderson they have added players who can not only grow with that new generation but also already have vast experience of top-level football.

City’s data indicates their current squad will not peak for another two to three years - but also projects they are likely to be among the title challengers this season.

Time will tell if they are right.