Manchester City are confident UEFA ’ s punishment for breaching financial fairplay regulations will be lifted this summer which would allow them to bid for stellar names like Raheem Sterling , Gareth Bale , Kevin de Bruyne and Ross Barkley . City boss Manuel Pellegrini has been hampered over the past year by UEFA restricting them to a net transfer spend of £49million in each window and keeping the club ’ s overall wage bill to its current level of £205million-a-year . UEFA ’ s settlement with City published in May stated those penalties would remain in place until the end of the 2015/16 season but the club ’ s latest financial figures showed drastically-reduced losses of £23million which they feel proves they are now compliant with FPP regulations . Manuel Pellegrini is hoping that the financial restrictions imposed by UEFA for a breach of FFP rules will be lifted at the end of this season . Manchester City have been limited to a net spend of £49million in the last two transfer windows - they spent £25m bringing Wilfried Bony in from Swansea in January . Ahead of Monday night ’ s trip to Crystal Palace , Pellegrini was certainly talking like a man excited at the prospect of signing 'crack ' players this summer . ‘ I think that next season we don ’ t have any restrictions so we will be in the same position that all the other English clubs have , ’ said Pellegrini . ‘ It ’ s important . You have so many strong teams here in England and in Champions League , you can not allow them to keep the advantage every year ; having less players to put in your squad or spending less money . We spend money , of course we always spend money , but they spent more. ’ Manchester United , Barcelona , Liverpool and Arsenal have all paid more in transfer fees in the past 12 months than City who were traditionally Europe ’ s biggest spenders after the club was taken over by Abu Dhabi owners in 2008 . Uefa also ordered City to play with a reduced squad from 25 players to 21 in the Champions League this season and while that restriction has now ended , any time reduction in the penalties on spending and wages is more controversial . Arsenal have paid more in transfer fees than City in the last 12 months , including £30m on Alexis Sanchez . The document published last May by UEFA ’ s Club Financial Control Body investigative chamber explicitly said City ’ s financial penalties would run for two seasons at least and there has been no official deviation from that decision . The published statement said at the time : ‘ Manchester City agrees to significantly limit spending in the transfer market for the seasons 2014/15 and 2015/16 . It means City will have to argue their case with Uefa that as they have been financially compliant over the past year , they deserve to be free of restrictions moving forward . They have successfully argued their case with UEFA before . Last summer they persuaded the governing body to allow them to bypass the normal quota of eight homegrown players as their Champions League squad had been reduced . Eliaquim Mangala joined the champions from Porto for £32m last summer . The reigning Premier League champions have only paid money for Fernando , Willie Caballero , Eliaquim Mangala and Wilfried Bony in the last two transfer windows and that was part-paid by the sales of Javi Garcia and Jack Rodwell . Pellegrini admitted they weren ’ t in a position to compete with neighbours United for established world stars like Angel di Maria because of the FFP penalties . It has cost City on the pitch . Even if they win their remaining eight Premier League fixtures their points tally will be lower than last season and they crashed out once again at the last-16 stage of the Champions League . Pellegrini and director of football Txiki Begiristain both accept the squad needs replenishing and they want to be in the market for the top available players . Manchester City have been heavily linked with a move for former Chelsea midfielder Kevin de Bruyne . The club also want to be involved in any race for Liverpool contract rebel Raheem Sterling . They have been strongly linked with former Chelsea winger Kevin de Bruyne who has been one of the best players in the Bundesliga with Wolfsburg . And if Liverpool do allow Sterling to leave , City want to be involved in the chase for one of England ’ s most outstanding talents to help fit in with quotas for homegrown players . ‘ If you are the manager or a player of a big tem , you are always open to criticism because everyone expects a high level of performance , ’ he said . ‘ The major issue with our team always seems to be the money but this season I think we were the team that spent less than any other team . That is the weird thing . ‘ For this club trying to be a big team in so few years , maybe we are paying the cost for that. ’ Since the transfer penalties were introduced , City have spent £91million on players in the last two windows ( Net spend £68million ) . That compares to Manchester United £145.5million , Liverpool £113million , Arsenal £92.5million and Chelsea £82.6million . Over the same time period Barcelona spent £118.3million on players and Real Madrid £81.2million though they also broke the world transfer record for Gareth Bale the previous summer .
Manchester City have been restricted to a net transfer spend of 205 . Club 's also had to keep overall wage bill to its current level of ££49mm . Punishments imposed by UEFA for breaching Financial Fair Play rules . The spending restrictions were set for this season and the next one . But City are confident they will be lifted early after their compliance .