Manchester City should face a multi-year punishment for their financial misdemeanours, according to former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher.

An independent commission found City guilty of breaking Premier League rules in a strongly-worded report released last week, which the club have appealed against.

City were found to have inflated revenue by more than £830million over a nine-season period between 2009-10 and 2017-18 and, if their appeal fails, Carragher believes the sanctions should reflect that.

Speaking on The Overlap Fan Debate, the 48-year-old said: “If the people talk about (a penalty of) 80 points or 100 points, but that’s just over one season that gets you relegated and then you come back again.

“And I think players, a few of them would leave, but I think some of them would say, ‘I could put up with that for a year’.

“But I think, because this has gone on for so long, I do think the punishment should be over a number of years, three to five years, and then players would move on.”

City return to action this weekend when they take on Liverpool, arguably their biggest rivals for titles over the last decade and a half, in the Premier League on Sunday.

Enzo Maresca’s side can expect a hostile atmosphere at Anfield, and former City defender and manager Stuart Pearce feels the Italian needs to try to use that in his favour.

“The opposition, they’ll be rolling their sleeves up,” Pearce said. “The atmosphere in the stadiums is going to be red hot. It’s unbelievable it happens to be Liverpool this weekend. It’s going to be electric.

“So it’s going to stimulate everybody else against City, and it’s got to stimulate City against everyone else.”

Former City player Nico Gonzalez admitted he has “mixed emotions” about what is happening at his old club.

The 24-year-old midfielder joined Newcastle from City at the end of August for a reported fee of up to £52million and has featured four times for the Magpies so far this campaign.

Gonzalez’s move came following 18 months with City, having joined the club in February 2025 on deadline day and gone on to make nearly 60 appearances.

The Spaniard said in an interview with Sky Sports News: “It’s hard for me because I have mixed emotions.

“I really want them to succeed, not only my old team-mates but people that work there. I had a year and a half there and I built so many connections and so many relationships.

“I will always wish them the best personally. But obviously I’m just a player, I can’t say ‘this has to be the punishment or there has to be a punishment’. I don’t know what to say because I’m not aware of everything.”