Pep Guardiola spotlights nine Prem teams who attempted to get Man City banned for transfer spree
Pep Guardiola insists Chelsea’s £323 million January spending spree is “none of my business” as he recalls nine Premier League clubs attempting to ban Manchester City for their own extravagant spending.
UEFA imposed a two-year ban on City’s participation in European competition beginning in February 2020 after the club was found to have violated Financial Fair Play regulations following the publication of leaked documents obtained by the German newspaper Der Spiegel, which allegedly revealed that the club’s owners had used false sponsorship agreements to inflate their revenue figures.
Nonetheless, City’s suspension was overturned after an appeal was filed with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which ruled that there was “insufficient evidence” for UEFA to uphold their original sanction. CAS reduced City’s fine from £26.9m to £9m, despite finding that the club had obstructed UEFA’s investigation.
CAS also revealed that nine Premier League clubs had written to them during their investigation, requesting that City’s ban be upheld.
These clubs were confirmed to be Arsenal, Burnley, Chelsea, Leicester, Manchester United, Newcastle, Tottenham, and Wolves.
Despite allowing Joao Cancelo to join Bayern Munich on loan, City kept their cash in their pockets during the January transfer window despite continuing to spend lavishly.
Under the new ownership of a consortium led by Todd Boehly, Chelsea spent an enormous amount last month, bringing their total spending for the season to over £500 million.
Enzo Fernandez was acquired for a British record fee of £107 million, surpassing the previous record of £100 million paid by City to Aston Villa for Jack Grealish.
Guardiola, however, refused to criticize the London club despite the fact that Chelsea are flexing their muscles as the new financial powerhouse.
"Will NEVER forget when 8 or 9 teams tried to get us BANNED!" 🤬
— Hayters TV (@HaytersTV) February 3, 2023
Pep Guardiola is truly box office 🍿 pic.twitter.com/fH7MIJqQqY
“What Chelsea decides to do is none of my business, honestly,” he said at a press conference on Friday. “I never try and get involved in other clubs because there are regulation rules that they have to do it.
“We were accused, I never forget that, eight or nine teams in the Premier League sent a letter to the Premier League and they wanted us to be banned, to be out of the Premier League so that happened to us, when we were the fifth team to spend that in the last five years, when we start to win titles, so this is the reality.”
During the January transfer window, Premier League clubs spent a record £815 million, with Chelsea spending more than a third of that amount.
Among their other acquisitions were Mykhaylo Mudryk (£87 million), Benoit Badiashile (£35 million), Noni Madueke (£29 million), and Malo Gusto (£26.3 million).
Pep Guardiola spotlights nine Prem teams who attempted to get Man City banned for transfer spree
