Erling Haaland has bagged a waterfront mansion and is among players in a website video promoting the “Manchester City Yas residence”.
City executives also feature in the ads.
A Premier League panel found the club guilty of “sham” football deals.
Star striker Haaland and former manger Pep Guardiola were among those featured in a glittering launch bash last Thursday at the Etihad Stadium in the United Arab Emirates’ capital.
Last night football author John-Paul O’Neill said: “It all seems very brazen and indicative of the stance they are taking and the contempt the club holds for the investigation. They are sticking two fingers up and saying, ‘So what, we’ll just carry on as we are’.
“The whole set-up of the massive investment in City is about promoting the UAE. It’s purely business, purely marketing.” Football campaigner Mickey Ambrose, an ex-Chelsea and Charlton player, added: “It’s quite rich for City to be flogging luxury houses in Abu Dhabi following the guilty verdicts. Who says cheaters don’t prosper? The supporters must be so disappointed by the whole thing.”
Haaland, who scored in Sunday’s 3-0 over Liverpool, has bought a five-bedroom villa worth at least £1.9million on the complex by developers Ohana.
He also appeared in a video shown to more than 4,000 VIPs, brokers, and government officials at the spectacular event.
Other City stars to have featured in promotional videos and photos include Phil Foden, Nico O’Reilly and Mateo Kovacic, plus former forward Omar Marmoush who has been sold to Spurs.
Smiling on screen, Haaland said: “I’m so happy to tell you I’m joining the Ohana Manchester City project and we will be neighbours in Abu Dhabi. I just got a house and so did my father.
“By the way, you might have seen him there — hello, Dad. See you guys soon and enjoy.” Haaland’s father, former City player Alf-Inge Haaland, 53, then appeared live on stage.
As property owners, he and his son get an automatic ten-year United Arab Emirates visa under local investment rules.
The announcement, seen in a YouTube video, also features Guardiola taking centre stage as the project’s official brand ambassador.
It comes at a hugely sensitive moment for the club, found to have artificially inflated its revenue by almost £900million between 2009 and 2018 through “sham” sponsorship deals linked to Abu Dhabi. City have appealed against the verdict and claim to have “irrefutable evidence” proving their innocence.
The club is majority-owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan through the Abu Dhabi United Group.
The mega-rich firm also owns the £365million Co-op Live Arena, and swathes of luxury apartment blocks across the east of Manchester after being given a “sweetheart deal” by authorities.
The 1.67million-square- metre complex on Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island will boast its own Manchester City Training Academy, a dedicated City Lounge and the team’s logo and branding throughout.
It will have an ultra-modern fitness centre, with rooms for cryotherapy, oxygen therapy and hydrotherapy.
There will be rooftop football pitches and match-viewing rooms.
A computer-generated image of the development showed the Manchester City Sports Clubhouse with a giant club crest on its roof. The development will include restaurants, tennis and basketball courts, cycling and jogging routes, private beach access and a canal-side promenade.
A skate park, climbing walls, parkour park, karting arena and bike arena are also being built, with the first phase set for completion in 2029.
Prices for more than 2,000 properties range from £770,000 to more than £7.25million. The glitzy launch included pyrotechnics, dancers, freestyle footballers in City kits and even an appearance by club mascots Moonchester and Moonbeam.
Guardiola came on stage saying: “It’s a pleasure to be here, my second home.” – Sun
