State-owned clubs like City are as dangerous as the EPL

La Liga chief attacks Sky Blues and PSG and insists it’s not just sour grapes over Mbappe and Haaland

SPANISH football chief Javier Tebas claims “Stateowned clubs” like Manchester City are as big a danger to the game as the European Super League.

Tebas launched his latest tirade against City and Paris Saint-Germain over their Middle East ownership as he revealed why La Liga have reported them to UEFA.

Spain’s top league allege Financial Fair Play breaches by both City and PSG, whose ownership stems from Abu Dhabi and Qatar respectively.

Tebas insists they have made the complaint to protect “football’s ecosystem” rather than any self-interest, after they were accused of sour grapes because Real Madrid missed out on signing Erling Haaland and top target Kylian Mbappe (inset above, left) this summer.

Talking at the

Club Advisory Platform in Amsterdam, Tebas

(right) said: “The European Super League is as dangerous as Stateowned clubs.

“The clubs owned by States, and it’s not a problem to be owned by a State, are hard to control and they are endangering football’s ecosystem.

“It’s inflating the wage system and inflating UEFA’s control and the FFP system, which is why it is important to report it. “We are not doing this for Real Madrid, we are doing it to defend football’s ecosystem.” City signed Haaland (inset, right) for £51million after Real turned their attentions to Mbappe but missed out on the France star who opted to stay at PSG after agreeing a £200m contract. Tebas accused the clubs of “inflating” sponsorship deals and huge, lucrative personal appearances for players in the States where they are owned. He added: “When we refer to State-owned clubs, the most well known are Manchester City and PSG. These clubs have certain behaviour which can be criticised.

“The sponsorships are not done at market value.

“They are done at inflated value and then they take the deals outside of the country with the players making personal appearances as part of the deal while they are paid an extraordinary amount.

‘‘The third trait of the Stateowned clubs is the huge losses and that damages the whole ecosystem.”

Both City’s owner Sheikh Mansour and PSG have repeatedly and strenuously denied any wrongdoing.

PSG “refused to dignify” Tebas’ latest outburst with a formal statement.