I know, but it is wrong to think that these people don't care about money. They do. I agree that fines in the millions is the equivalent of fining me a fiver but if you start fining them in the tens of billions, they will sod off elsewhere.
You could use some of the money to settle the inevitable claims of the sides who missed out on champions league qualification or got relegated because of City.
I think the only possible solution here is to find them not guilty. I suspect that is where this will end......
“Other clubs never came into my thoughts once I knew Arsenal wanted to sign me.”
Oh, that bit is easy. You can accept that the cooperation, whilst being below that which was to be expected, did not materially contribute to a transgression of the rules or impact the integrity of the competition. Or some other form of words that basically says we have bottled it.
And then you can take a real stand and fine them 2 million quid