October 22 – LaLiga President Javier Tebas has added his condemnation to Manchester City, saying that “we need justice for the Premier League, for Europe and UEFA”.
City have been found guilty by the Premier League of breaching the league’s financial rules 114 times.
Speaking at the Sportel conference in Monaco, Tebas said that this was not the first time he had called out City.
In 2017 at Soccerex in Manchester, Tebas famously called into question the way Paris Saint-Germain and Man City’s Middle East-backed big spenders do business, saying they had an unfair competitive advantage “due to monies that are not created by the club itself.”
Essentially the ‘sham’, inflated, advertising and sponsorships that the Premier League tribunal found Man City guilty of creating to keep them within FFP rules.
In 2017, having compared the various income streams of Europe’s major clubs, Tebas famously asked: “PSG has a lot more from sponsorship than Manchester United but how can this be possible? This is financial doping. Why? Because there is a value coming from sponsorship outside of the market.”
“We think the rules have been infringed. It’s not that I don’t like PSG. But what happens when this money comes into European football? There is an inflation of salaries and transfer fees. This is damaging football.”
“European football needs to know there is an incredible risk when money comes in from states. PSG paid Barcelona €222 million for Neymar but it’s never ending. All (PSG president) Nasser (Al-Khelaïfi) has to do is open the gas tap. That is the problem. This is not football’s market price. It’s gas market price.”
“It’s not just last summer. I’m talking about over several seasons. If we don’t control this, the smaller leagues will not grow and the whole industry will be destructured.”
Tebas said Man City CEO [Ferran Soriano], following his comments “called me because he was mad at me because I was telling people about all…they were doing.”
“I’m interested in understanding how this story will end. It is important for both the Premier League and the European football ecosystem. There are people who have had to leave UEFA because of Manchester City, so I think we need justice for the Premier League, for Europe and UEFA…” he continued.
“Of course, we hope the Premier League will understand to be more sensible … they have quite a complicated financial situation.”
Contact the writer of this story at paul.nicholson@insideworldfootball.com