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Manchester City’s spending plans have been cast into doubt by the revelation that they do not qualify for a relaxation of Uefa restrictions.

The Blues are pursuing three major targets – Paul Pogba, Raheem Sterling and Kevin de Bruyne – which would cost them close to £150million.

But Uefa has announced that its relaxation of financial fair play (FFP) will NOT apply to clubs who have previously fallen foul of the rules.

That means City and Paris St Germain, the two highest profile clubs hit by the controversial rules last season, will not be eligible for the relaxation.

And the Blues will still be subject to the settlements they reluctantly agreed with Uefa last year, which included a restriction on transfer spending and wages for 2015-16.

Other clubs who have not been hit by financial fair play rules will be eligible, from next season, to enter into a voluntary agreement with Uefa. That would allow them a period of accelerated spending, as long as they stay within limits agreed with Uefa.

City are staying quiet at the moment on their situation with regards to FFP, although Uefa should announce in the next two to three weeks whether some current restrictions on the Blues will be lifted because they have met the terms of the settlement.

They have still not been given notice that they have passed the financial fair play test for 2013-14, which required them to limit their losses to £14.2million.

City actually posted a loss of £23m, but were confident that £16m of that was accounted for by the FFP fine, which does not count.

The settlement they agreed with Uefa also stipulated they must cut losses for last season to £7.1m – but the club has already said it is now profitable.

Last season City were also given a £49million cap on transfer spending and told that their wage bill could not rise.

That transfer limit was blamed by manager Manuel Pellegrini for City’s trophy-less season, after they were out-spent by top-four rivals Chelsea, Arsenal and United.

The Blues appear to have met that wage restriction by trimming some big earners from their squad and also restructuring current deals so that performance bonuses – which do not count in FFP terms – play a bigger part.

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The settlement states that City will face restrictions for season 2015-16 as well, but the extent of those restrictions have not been made public, nor whether they have already been set or will be set this summer.

The big question, as yet unanswered, is whether the transfer and wages limit will stymie City’s plans in the market.

It is hard to believe that City have pressed on with their spending plans without being sure of their ground – they have sought assurances from Uefa about their position, but have maintained a public silence on the matter.

But in May, 2014, the FFP punishment came as something of a shock to them – they had privately expressed confidence that they would pass the test.

In the aftermath, they claimed Uefa had shifted the goalposts, and made it plain that normally they would consider recourse to legal action.

Eventually, they decided that the damage done by taking the issue to court would be greater than the impact of the punishment, and agreed to the settlement.

Earlier this month chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak expressed his confidence that the issue was behind City, saying: “We dealt with the pinch last year from financial fair play, whether you agree with it or not, it’s behind us and we are out of it now.”

To further complicate a tangled issue, Uefa have come under pressure from several legal challenges to FFP.

One of those, which involved a body of City fans, has got a Brussels court to freeze FFP, preventing them from implementing the next phase of their squeeze on club finances.