Liverpool are preparing to demand compensation exceeding £100 million from Manchester City if Pep Guardiola's side are found guilty of the most serious charges among their 115 alleged financial breaches.

The Reds have already served legal notices on City during 2024, alongside Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, reserving their right to pursue damages should the Premier League's case succeed. City continue to deny all charges against them.

Each of the four clubs has calculated potential losses running significantly beyond the £100 million mark, factoring in missed Champions League qualification opportunities and other prize money that slipped through their fingers. When you add interest to those figures, the final compensation demands could prove eye-watering.

The game-changer arrived this week when an independent Premier League commission awarded Burnley £35 million plus interest from Everton following the Clarets' relegation in May 2022. That precedent has blown the door wide open for Liverpool and the other three clubs to pursue their own claims.

Wednesday's ruling concluded that Everton gained a sporting advantage through breaches of Profit and Sustainability Rules, which directly contributed to them staying up whilst Burnley went down. The commission's verdict represents the first time the Premier League has awarded compensation for sporting disadvantage caused by financial rule breaches.

Everton have hit back hard against the decision, releasing a statement that pulls no punches about what they see as a dangerous new precedent for English football. The Blues argue the ruling rests on the flawed principle that clubs can be deemed in breach of financial rules at any point during a financial year, not just at the end of it.

The Merseyside club insists the panel misrepresented the clear evidence their legal team presented and remains confident an appeal will overturn the decision. But their protests might be too little, too late for what this could unleash across the Premier League.

If City are eventually found guilty, Liverpool and their fellow claimants would argue they suffered sporting disadvantage during the period between 2009 and 2017 that the alleged breaches cover. Those were crucial years in Liverpool's recent history, including seasons where Champions League qualification hung in the balance and every point proved precious.

The financial implications stretch far beyond simple prize money calculations. Missing out on Champions League football doesn't just cost clubs the immediate revenue from UEFA's competition. It impacts transfer budgets, commercial deals, player retention and the entire trajectory of a football club during those crucial years.

For Liverpool specifically, there were seasons during that timeframe where they missed out on Champions League qualification by the finest of margins. If City gained an unfair advantage through alleged financial breaches during those same periods, the compensation argument becomes compelling from both legal and sporting perspectives.

The Burnley verdict against Everton has essentially created the legal framework for these much larger claims to proceed. What started as a relatively contained dispute over relegation has potentially opened the floodgates for compensation demands that could reshape how financial breaches are punished in English football.

City's case remains ongoing, with no timeline confirmed for when the independent commission will reach its verdict on the 115 charges. But Liverpool and their fellow claimants are clearly not waiting around to see what happens. They've done their homework, crunched their numbers, and positioned themselves to strike if the opportunity arrives.

The stakes keep rising in what's already the biggest financial investigation in Premier League history, and this latest development suggests the final reckoning could prove more expensive than anyone initially imagined.