Thomas Tuchel has acknowledged that the guilty verdict against Manchester City has spilled into England camp discussions during the international break.

The England manager said the situation is being talked about openly among his players, with uncertainty over possible punishments continuing to hang over the club. A range of sanctions has been suggested, some of which could have serious consequences for the team and the players who represent it.

Tuchel said the matter has naturally entered everyday conversation around the squad. “I think it is a distraction,” said Tuchel, whose England roster includes Marc Guéhi and Elliot Anderson after left back Nico O’Reilly withdrew from injury. “It is. Let’s say it is a subject. If it’s a distraction, I don’t know.

“It is of course a topic and we speak about it at dinner and at a table of eight or 12 people. We speak about it at breakfast. I know the Man City players get a lot of messages and phone calls and feedback about it.

“Are they worried or concerned? I think that would be a very human reaction if you don’t know what’s going on for the club that you signed. They’re still young. They’re ambitious. They’re told they are totally innocent and don’t know what’s going on. It is a subject.

“I am again not sure if it’s a distraction. I don’t see it when I see them in my meetings. I don’t see it how they behave with other teammates, and I don’t see it in training being a distraction. But it’s a topic. How can’t it be?”

City have appealed the verdict and continue to insist on their innocence. No timetable has been set for any punishment, and the next legal stage with the Premier League may yet shape what happens.

While the players themselves would not be directly punished, the wider effect could be significant. Expulsion from the Premier League would leave them in limbo, while a points deduction or relegation could alter both earnings and future careers.

The issue is also being discussed beyond England. Players are away with Argentina, France and Uzbekistan, while Wales midfielder Ethan Ampadu, of Leeds United, said the subject has reached that camp too. “Everyone has talked about it,” Ampadu said.

The old saying that the table never lies has rarely felt more complicated than it does now, with Manchester City facing the fallout from an investigation into more than 100 alleged breaches of regulations. While the punishment for previous seasons is still unresolved, attention is also fixed on the current campaign, where a points deduction of some size remains a real possibility.

Opta have modelled a range of outcomes to show how different sanctions could reshape the Premier League picture. Their projections suggest the impact would be felt not only in the title race, but also in the fight for European places and, at the extreme end, even relegation.

With no deduction, City’s title chances stand at 40%. A five-point penalty reduces that to 25%, while 10 points drops it to 15%. At 15 points, the figure falls to 7%, and at 20 points it is down to 3%. A 25-point deduction leaves City with less than a 1% chance of lifting the title.

Even so, City’s prospects of finishing in the top four appear more resilient. Opta give them a 90% chance without a deduction, falling to 62% with 10 points removed and 28% if the sanction reaches 20 points. At 30 points, the chance is only 6%, and at 40 points it is below 1%.

The relegation picture becomes serious only at the harsher end of the scale. Opta put City’s chances of going down at less than 5% with a deduction of 20 points or fewer, and less than 20% at 30 points or fewer. A 40-point penalty would make relegation more likely than not, while 60 points would almost certainly send them down and 74 points would guarantee it.

The Premier League cannot directly relegate Manchester City to the Championship, but it can expel them from the competition. The most realistic route to demotion would be a deduction so severe that it leaves no escape.

Rui Pinto has again placed FIFA President Gianni Infantino under intense scrutiny, reviving accusations tied to the long-running Manchester City case and accusing him of shielding the club from harsher punishment.

The Portuguese hacker, whose leaked material helped trigger the Premier League investigation into Manchester City, described Infantino as “a cancer on football.” In a social media post, Pinto argued that Infantino was already aware of the issues around the club in 2014, when he was UEFA General Secretary.

“Back in 2014, there was a man who was already aware of the irregularities involving Manchester City,” the activist wrote on social media . “That man now runs FIFA.

“The infamous Gianni Infantino, then UEFA General Secretary, abused his authority, shared confidential documents and, in short, outmaneuvered the Investigatory Chamber, doing everything in his power to ensure that both Manchester City and PSG would merely receive a fine, avoiding a deeper investigation that could have led to a Champions League ban. All of these details were also revealed through Football Leaks.

“Given his actions as UEFA General Secretary and, more recently, as FIFA President, I can only say, in my humble opinion, that Gianni Infantino has become a cancer on football and should have no place in the future of the game.”

The comments revisit UEFA’s 2014 examination of Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, when both clubs avoided competition bans and were instead fined. Pinto and Der Spiegel later claimed that Infantino “circumvented” normal procedure and helped steer the matter toward that outcome.

Among the documents cited in the report was an email allegedly sent by Infantino to Khaldoon Al Mubarak in May 2014. It included the line: “Sorry for my ‘late-Friday-night email,’” along with the phrase, “You know you can trust me. … Let’s be positive!”

Der Spiegel also reported that UEFA’s Investigatory Chamber found City had accumulated a deficit of at least €188 million during a period when only €45 million could be lost. The same report said Infantino had held “secret talks, even supplying them with confidential materials” and made “compromises that he was unauthorized to propose.”

City’s dissatisfaction was also highlighted through a hacked email allegedly written by Simon Cliff, in which Al Mubarak was quoted as saying: “Khaldoon said he would rather spend 30 million on the 50 best lawyers in the world to sue them for the next 10 years.”

Infantino has not responded publicly while touring Asian soccer associations.