City and La Liga in legal battle
Tebas claims sister club tried to ‘cook the books’ Abu Dhabi owners threaten court action
Manchester City were engulfed in an extraordinary legal row with the Spanish football league last night after their latest sister club were accused of trying to “cook the books” on loan deals between them.
The president of La Liga, Javier Tebas, stepped up his campaign to get City and Paris St-germain banned from Europe for “financial doping”, warning he would not give up until he had exhausted all legal avenues. He also accused the latest club to join City’s growing footballing empire, Girona, of undervaluing players sent on loan from Manchester in documents submitted to La Liga as part of its own monitoring of teams’ spending.
City loaned five players to Girona during the transfer window, in which Abu Dhabi-owned parent company City Football Group joined forces with the brother of manager Pep Guardiola to buy an 88 per cent stake in the Catalan side. No loan fees were paid on those signings, something to which La Liga took exception under rules capping how much Spanish clubs can spend each season.
It therefore sought to force Girona to deduct what it considered to be the true market value of those deals from their overall budget of €80million (£73million), something over which they are still in talks with CFG.
Those discussions threatened to turn acrimonious last night after Tebas went public with his allegations. Asked if they had attempted to cook the books, he replied: “They were trying to but they didn’t manage to do it.”
Having kept its counsel earlier this week when Tebas revealed he had written to Uefa demanding an investigation into City’s spending – which he alleges breaches its Financial Fair Play regulations – CFG broke its silence last night.
Citing Monday’s statement by European football’s governing body confirming there was no FFP probe into City, a spokeswoman said: “We note the public comments made by Mr Tebas today and earlier this week. Uefa’s statement of September 4 is clear and based on accurate information. By contrast, Mr Tebas’s statements are illinformed and, in parts, pure fiction.
“As you would expect, Manchester City Football Club and the City Football Group are seeking appropriate legal counsel and will act accordingly on that advice.”
CFG categorically denied anyone had sought to “cook the books” at Girona by not charging a loan fee for the players from City, who said the majority of their loans to all clubs did not involve such fees.
Any lawsuit against La Liga could coincide with separate legal action in the opposite direction.
Saying he was prepared to give Uefa “six to eight months” to punish both City and PSG before escalating the matter, Tebas added: “If we see that there is no future for that, we will take it to the competition authorities in Brussels and, after that, potentially the courts.”
Calling for both clubs, who were punished three years ago for breaching FFP rules, to be banned from European competition, Tebas said he would tell City’s chief executive, Ferran Soriano, of his plans at a meeting it is understood took place yesterday. Tebas used the Soccerex Global Convention in Manchester to accuse PSG and Neymar of being caught “peeing in the swimming pool” when it came to FFP. Tebas, who unsuccessfully tried to block Neymar’s move from Barcelona for almost £200million this summer, said Qatar-owned PSG were “laughing at the system”.
Uefa launched a probe last week into PSG following the signing of Neymar and the £166million loanto-buy deal for Kylian Mbappe.
It ruled out a similar inquiry into City. PSG and City both deny breaching FFP rules for a second time, with the latter saying they have been assured by Uefa that they are not facing an investigation.