Arsene Wenger admits he was surprised by the Premier League’s decision to charge Manchester City with breaking financial fair play rules but believes there is only a small chance of the reigning champions being relegated or stripped of titles if found guilty.
City were hit with 115 charges of relating to FFP breaches dating back to 2009 last Monday but have strongly denied any wrongdoing.
Arsene Wenger once accused Man City of ‘financial doping’ (Picture: beIN Sport)
Manager Pep Guardiola launched a passionate defence of his club ahead of Sunday’s match with Aston Villa and is confident City will prove their innocence.
During the latter stages of his Arsenal tenure, Wenger riled against the likes of City and Chelsea whose finances rendered his job of keeping pace with the English elite almost impossible.
Wenger lost a clutch of his best players including the likes of Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy to City and accused his rivals of financial doping.
Asked how he felt seeing City facing such serious accusations, he told beIN Sport: ‘I was in this case where I had to fight with no money against teams that had unlimited resource.
‘I know well what it is to be in that position and I just felt you have in every club to work with your resources and do the best you can.
‘After it’s a problem of the Premier League to decide.
‘FFP is not perfect I agree completely on that and will people with unlimited resources who come into the game today accept that they cannot invest money?
‘I cannot believe that. What is the interest in buying a football club?’
The severity of the potential punishments range from a fine to the possibility of relegation and titles being stripped.
Asked if he felt there was a chance City could lose their Premier League status, Wenger said: Very small one. I think so.
‘I believe at the moment I know quite well Khaldoon (Al Mubarak) and I think he’s an intelligent man and an honest man so I was quite surprised by the charges they face so let’s see the outcome.
‘If they are guilty then they will face penalties I don’t know what they will be.’
Chelsea take advantage of Guardiola rift with Man City star as spectacular swap deal takes shape
Chelsea are one of the clubs monitoring developments with a Manchester City player who no longer works from the same page as Pep Guardiola, a report has claimed.
Other Premier League clubs have been growing wary of Chelsea’s activity in the transfer market in recent months. For example, in the summer, they signed Raheem Sterling from Man City, Wesley Fofana from Leicester and Marc Cucurella from Brighton, among others.
However, Chelsea’s frantic approach to transfers in the Todd Boehly era has drawn mixed results so far. Some of the players they have recruited over the past couple of transfer windows are already under pressure.
Cucurella is one expensive addition who is yet to justify Chelsea’s faith, even after reuniting with his former Brighton boss, Graham Potter. Hence, he risks losing his place in their project for years to come.
Now, a report has suggested that Chelsea could address their concerns at full-back by making a summer move for a Man City outcast.
According to 90min, Chelsea are one of the clubs keeping tabs on Joao Cancelo while he is on loan at Bayern Munich from City.
Cancelo made the move to Germany in January after a rift emerged between him and head coach, Guardiola. Bayern have the option to buy the Portugal international for €70million (just shy of £62m) in the summer.
Per 90min, though, Bayern have no intention of paying that much to keep Cancelo for good. They would be interested in a longer-term arrangement for the full-back, but for a lower price.
While the situation is at a stalemate, other clubs are supposedly keeping track of developments. Real Madrid are among those who could make a move after failing to do so in January.
But the report also suggests Chelsea are staying informed of the situation, perhaps in view of offering Cancelo a chance to extend his time in the Premier League.
Chilwell interests City while Chelsea consider Cancelo
Interestingly enough, another existing Chelsea left-back, Ben Chilwell, has been the subject of speculation about a move to the Etihad Stadium recently. The England international is reportedly a long-time target for City.
Therefore, once Cancelo returns to City’s disposal in the summer, he could effectively swap places for Chilwell if negotiations go well enough.
Able to play as a right-back or left-back, Cancelo could cover two areas of need for Chelsea. On the right-hand side, the Blues have Reece James as their main starter, but sometimes lose him to injury.
Cesar Azpilicueta is also an option, but only for the short term now. Moreover, Malo Gusto will be arriving from Lyon in the summer.
On the left, where Cancelo was mainly playing for City despite being right-footed, there could be more opportunities for gametime if Cucurella or Chilwell are sacrificed. And if Cancelo can replicate his previous form with City, he would theoretically be an upgrade.
It would certainly be an intriguing move. But there is nothing to suggest any kind of advanced talks just yet. For now, Cancelo must focus on giving his all for Bayern.
Source: metro.co.uk; teamtalk.com
