Manchester City could find themselves in trouble if they are found guilty of buying a player under the legal age.

According to a report in Gazetta World, the club could be in trouble for buying Maltese youngster Myles Beerman, who officially joined the club in 2014 when he was just 15. However, according to FIFA’s disciplinary committee, Beerman joined the Premier League side from Floriana FC (in Malta) two years prior when he was 13, which is under the legal transfer age.

Beerman is currently playing in the Manchester City academy team.

FIFA have formally asked Floriana and the Maltese football federation to obtain all documentation of the player’s time at the Maltese club from 2012 to 2014. If FIFA is able to attain enough evidence, Manchester City will be in violation of Article 19 of FIFA’s rules on the transfer of players. The Maltese federation will also not go unpunished and face potential sanctions, which will most likely be in the form of fines.

Pep Guardiola will be taking over in the summer and this could seriously hinder his plans of getting the players he desires in the summer to ensure he has a successful first season. It would be a major setback if his first season in the Premier League would start with a transfer ban. Manchester City started the season as title challengers but their season was derailed in the middle and even though they will be finishing the campaign with a trophy (League Cup) and their best finish in the Champions League (semi-finals), the season saw plenty of weaknesses which Guardiola would need to address.

However, it must be mentioned that any ban is followed by an appeal from the party in question which would take at least one to two months to resolve, during Guardiola’s Manchester City could be hit with transfer ban for alleged illegal transfers which City will be free to carry on with transfer activities. Therefore, they would be able to get players but would need to be prompt and might face difficulties with other clubs putting high price tags on their players knowing City’s situation.