Manchester City are thankfully in a position where they can watch the latest scrambling in the transfer market from afar.

When the Blues were taken over in 2008, there weren't the financial restrictions in place that there are now and that enabled them to spend heavily in order to catch up with the established elite clubs. When they did come in, City had made enough ground up that they were able to adapt to the new rules - although if the most serious of the Premier League charges are proven that would change the narrative.

Nevertheless, chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak always spoke about wanting the club to be self-sustaining and after breaking English records for revenue generated in a single campaign in the 2022/23 campaign, City do not have to worry about the latest Profitability and Sustainability Rules. There is no need for them to rush any transfers through before the end of the financial year on June 30 to be compliant with the rules.

Not all clubs are so lucky; Aston Villa, Everton, Chelsea, and Newcastle are among the clubs buying players off each other in a mad dash before July to ensure that they are not at risk of points deductions next season. The logic of the loophole is that a purchase can be spread on the books across the number of years on the player's contract, while a sale is immediately counted.

The process certainly has its critics, but then so do the rules regarding Financial Fair Play. What sort of system incentivises clubs to sell their homegrown products as the best way to abide by the rules? How can clubs break the existing order if they are required to weaken their squads before they can take advantage of the opportunities that they have earned through European qualification?

At least for City, this is one fight they don't need to be leading against the Premier League and a distraction that they can avoid with their own transfer plans. As much as it is preferred for deals to be done as quickly as possible, they don't need to be done at the Etihad for compliance reasons.

City can also benefit from the chaos as Aston Villa look to cash in on Douglas Luiz, selling him to Juventus for around PS42.3m as well as paying around PS18.8m to bring Enzo Barrenechea and Samuel Iling-Junior from Turin to the Midlands. A sell-on clause from City's sale of Luiz to Villa in 2019 puts them on course to bank more than PS5m from the transfer should it go through this week.

City chairman Al Mubarak is not confident of much business being done in this transfer window given the regulations in place, but the Blues can still benefit from decisions made in previous summers.