Former Manchester City financial advisor Stefan Borson, has expressed concerns over the club's impending legal tussle with the Premier League concerning Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules.

Borson clarified that this isn't linked to a separate case involving 115 allegations of breaching Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), which were levelled at City by the Premier League in February 2023, and are refuted by the club.

A two-week hearing began on Monday pertaining to Man City's legal challenge against APTs with the club saying such rules are illegal as top-flight rivals such as Liverpool watch on. The wording of these regulations gives the Premier League the power to supervise sponsorship deals involving any entities connected with a club's owners.

The introduction of the laws in 2021 was prompted by Newcastle United's takeover to make sure that deals between connected parties were not inflated above their actual market value, thereby indirectly giving the club more wiggle room within PSR.

According to Borson, winning the case would result in the Premier League losing its watchdog role over such agreements. However, he maintains that overcoming the APT rules could prove challenging for City.

Nevertheless, Borson stressed that the APT hearing's outcome would likely not affect the case involving 115-charge against City, which alleges the club of illicit revenue sourcing and non-cooperation over incidents spanning from 2009 and 2018. He emphasised that the APT regulations only became effective in 2021, after the period City are accused of violating PSR rules, thus the two situations would not coincide.

Borson stated: "If you go back to what the rulebook looked like at the time in which City are accused of these breaches, there were no rules about Associated Party Transactions. But there's always going to be rules about filing fair accounts."

On a potential punishment for the 115 charges if Pep Guardiola's side are found guilty, Borson added: "There's no set of rules that would permit what City are accused of doing between 2009 and 2018. They're accused of making up their accounts. And if that is proven, then they will suffer very severe action."

The PSR lawsuit brought against City predicted to commence in November and run for approximately six weeks. Both the Premier League and the club maintain the right to challenge the decision.