Manchester City are pressing ahead with transfer planning even as they await the fallout from their guilty verdict on 114 Premier League rule breaches — with scouts making repeat trips to Porto to assess potential recruits.

City lodged an appeal following the long-awaited ruling by the independent commission, but the club's recruitment operation has not paused. According to Portuguese outlet A Bola, via Sport Witness, City scouts were present at Porto's Champions League defeat to PSV at the Estadio do Dragao on Tuesday evening — their second such scouting visit to Porto in the space of a month, both coming after City's own Champions League trip to Portugal in September.

Players on City's radar

The primary reported target is Victor Froholdt, a 20-year-old Danish midfielder who caught the eye of City scouts during Porto's earlier match against Benfica. Sport Witness notes, however, that Froholdt did not produce the same level of performance on Tuesday as Porto fell 1-0 to PSV.

With Porto struggling on the night, attention also turned to opposition players. Esmir Bajraktarevic, the 21-year-old PSV forward, delivered a standout display and has been identified as another potential target. Yarek Gasiorowski, also 21, offered a commanding performance at centre-back for PSV. On the Porto side, 18-year-old Oskar Pietuszewski started on the left flank, while 22-year-old Spanish striker Samu Aghehowa has long attracted interest from Premier League scouts.

Sanctions still to be determined

The full extent of Manchester City's punishment remains uncertain. Among the sanctions under consideration are expulsion from the Premier League, the stripping of titles won under Pep Guardiola, points deductions, restrictions on player registrations, an enforced change of ownership, and a multi-year transfer ban.

A transfer ban is widely considered one of the more probable outcomes — and some observers have suggested that City's recent approach to recruitment may already reflect a degree of preparation for that possibility. For now, however, scouting continues uninterrupted.