'Everyone wants clarity' over Man City charges, says Arsenal chief

Everyone in the Premier League wants clarity and a speedy resolution in the case against Manchester City which features more than 100 alleged breaches of its financial rules, says Arsenal chief executive Richard Garlick.An independent commission is yet to publish a ruling, more than a year and a half after a disciplinary hearing concluded, and three and a half years since City were first charged.City have always denied wrongdoing.When asked if the length of time the process was taking was frustrating Arsenal, Garlick told BBC Sport: "It has gone on for a while."Everybody - the league and the teams - would want the clarity around what's going to happen next."But it's not something that I can control. It's not something that I can speculate on."And I just hope that there is a solution very quickly."Garlick's comments come on the eve of the new season and after Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said: "I do accept it's taking longer than expected, and I understand that people want to find out as soon as possible what's going on, but I simply can't provide that."Describing the case as "hugely complex", Masters added: "Our rules are very clear - we have to follow the process, and there's only one real clear route through, which is to allow that process to reach its natural conclusion."Privately, officials at a host of other Premier League clubs BBC Sport has spoken to in the past 24 hours have also expressed their frustrations, while acknowledging that this is an independent process which is running on its own timetable.One said the Premier League should be "actively seeking to put in place a better system" to ensure speedier resolutions.Another made the point that given that the league spent £45m on legal bills during the 2023–24 season on disputes over its financial regulations, there are mounting concerns at the spiralling costs of such a long legal fight.Their 'homegrown' status, having progressed through the ranks at Arsenal, means any sale would allow the club to book pure profit in its accounts, helping balance the financials in a year when the Premier League moves to a new Squad Cost Ratio (SCR) rule of spending controls.The new rules mean clubs can spend 85% of their revenues on fees, wages and contracts but the number drops to 70% for clubs competing in Europe.When asked if the club needed to sell players to help comply, Garlick said: "Every club now has adopted a player-trading model. The way in which football is and the fees involved, it makes sense for you to trade players and to generate revenues through those sales."I won't say it's a necessity, but it's only a matter of good housekeeping that you do look at those opportunities when they arise, and as long as they're right for the club, then that's something that we will explore."When asked if he wanted Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri to stay at Arsenal, he said: "I can't stop other clubs being interested. Myles had a fantastic end to last season and has started this one really well. We're very, very happy with him."Ethan has had a great pre-season as well and it's just a case of looking at what opportunities there are that will help both of those in terms of their career moving forward."We are not actively looking at selling those homegrown players but if the right opportunity came up - right for them and the club - we'd obviously consider that."