Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has claimed Manchester City will receive an ‘excellent’ risk-free pay-out from UEFA’s latest commercial deal.

The Lowdown: UEFA’s deal

On Monday 12 September, it was announced that UEFA had come to a branding deal agreement with Football Manager for its 2023 iteration of the video game.

This means FM23 will feature the Champions League, Europa League, Conference League and Super Cup for the first time in the game’s history.

This will add to Man City’s sizeable commercial income, which totalled a staggering £271.7m for the 2020/21 financial year.

The Latest: Maguire’s claim

Maguire says that whilst the cash pay-out won’t make a significant difference to City in the short-term, the no-risk nature of the deal will only benefit the Premier League champions.

Speaking with Football Insider, the finance expert said:

“The arrangement with Football Manager can only be considered a positive thing.

“There is no-risk with respect of individual clubs. While one deal like this won’t move the dial a huge amount, it is a case of every little helps.

“All they are doing is lending the company their intellectual property. The cash goes into the central pot, which is then split between the teams.

“City do excellent work in the commercial department, but they will love this as, with this sort of deal, everything is tied up by UEFA.”

The Verdict: The elusive trophy

Whilst City have enjoyed emphatic domestic success over the past few years, with Pep Guardiola’s side having won four of the last five Premier League titles, European silverware is still missing from the trophy cabinet at the Etihad.

The Blues continue to dominate domestically, but without a Champions League victory they will still receive the same agendas from rivals whose clubs do possess such a rich history in the competition.

Deals like the Football Manager licensing contract will spread the club's worldwide commercial appeal, and it's now up to the Blues to get it done on the pitch to prove their status as one of football's biggest clubs, once and for all.