UPDATED: 6:02am – La Liga chief Javier Tebas said on Monday that Abu Dhabi-funded Manchester City and Qatar-owned Paris Saint-Germain are benefiting from state aid which distorts European competitions
The Spanish La Liga has urged Uefa for an investigation into the spending spree of financial giants Manchester City, alleging that the “funding by state-aid distorts European competitions and creates an inflationary spiral that is irreparably harming the football industry”, according to the BBC.
UEFA are already investigating if French club Paris St Germain have broken the Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules after record deals for Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.
The 18-year-old has already joined them on loan from AS Monaco this season. Their exorbitant spending of £214.20m against the £58.5m that they earned through player sales had prompted Uefa to look into their transfer records.
However, across the top five leagues in Europe, Manchester City’s net spend of £215m was the highest. In fact, three of their players — Benjamin Mendy (€58.2m), John Stones (€58m) and Kyle Walker (€56.7m) — are among the top four costliest defenders in the Premier League, with Chelsea’s David Luiz (€62.5m) leading the list.
Of them, Mendy and Walker have arrived from AS Monaco and Tottenham Hotspur this season, while Stones had joined them from Everton last summer.
They also paid €40m for Ederson Moraes this season — a sum that shattered the Premier League record for the maximum amount paid for a goalkeeper.
While Manchester City are owned by The Abu Dhabi United Group since 2008, PSG are owned by the gulf state of Qatar through its Qatar Sports Investment Fund, since 2011.
If they indeed go on to sign Mbappe at a sum rumoured to be around £170m, having brought him on loan this season, the club would own two of the richest players on earth, besides raising the bar for others to follow suit.
-HT
