Claims made by former Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola about the club's spending have raised eyebrows again
Pep Guardiola's 'net spend' mistake could be even worse after Man City's reported 'guilty verdict'
Pep Guardiola's 'net spend' mistake could be even worse after Man City's reported 'guilty verdict'(Image: Alex Livesey - Danehouse/Getty Images)
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Back in February, Pep Guardiola snapped back at a question about Manchester City’s spending in the January transfer window in which he incorrectly ranked where his side’s spending was compared to their Premier League rivals. He also claimed that because the net spend of “six” (it turns out it was only five) other teams they instead “had to win” the league.
Naturally, when football.london dug deeper into some of the broader numbers that Guardiola had left out, such as the massive wage bill of the club compared to the likes of Arsenal, the Spaniard’s argument crumbled quickly.
Perhaps most amusingly, at the time, the question which provoked the passive-aggressive reply was phrased by asking how much director of football Hugo Viana deserved credit for bringing in Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi.
Guardiola replied: "Really good. Txiki [Bergiristain] before and Hugo now. I am a little bit sad and upset because in net spend the last five years we are seventh in the Premier League.
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“I want to be the first, I don't understand why the club don't spend more money. I am a little bit grumpy with them.
"But like we won in the past because we spent a lot, now six teams have to win the Premier Leagues, Champions Leagues and FA Cups because they spent more in the last five years. These are facts. It's not an opinion.
"You can say an opinion, like you say you play good or bad against Spurs - we can agree or disagree. But they are facts. Good luck to the six teams who are in front of us for net spend for the last five years.
"Let's go. I'm waiting. That's a nice quote, eh?"
football.london delved into the numbers, revealing that over the last 10 financial years, Man City have spent £870million more than Arsenal on player wages.
Fast forward more than seven months, and Man City have now been reportedly found guilty of 114 of the 115 alleged financial breaches by a Premier League independent commission. The 10 financial years stretch back to 2015.
Among the 115 charges, 54 alleged that Man City failed to provide accurate financial information from 2009-10 to 2017-18. 14 of the alleged charges were also regarding a failure to provide accurate details for player/manager payments from 2009-10 to 2017/18.
Now reportedly found guilty, despite City still denying any wrongdoing and with an appeal process believed to be ongoing, this raises the question: could the published figures, which show the difference to be close to +£900million in wage expenditure compared to Arsenal, in fact, be higher than we previously understood?
Guardiola’s entire net spend argument, which, as mentioned, he got wrong in the first place, could equally be completely different to what he understood it to be. This entire case has now made everything we thought we knew into flux and until we acquire clarification it’s impossible to make any arguments about City’s alleged spending.