“City is not the only one”: Unai Emery accuses several English clubs of having “inflated” their balance sheets

Unai Emery claims that “many clubs” have “inflated their budgets” as English football tries to digest the biggest scandal of recent times.

An independent Premier League panel found that Manchester City had illegally injected more than 900 million pounds to circumvent the financial rules, mainly thanks to the fact that the club’s ownership group had increased the value of its commercial partnership deals by 830.69 million pounds.

The club, which appealed the decision today, has found an unusual “ally”.

The Aston Villa coach is the first to take a public stance on this issue, and when he did so he accused these violations of having been committed not only by the Manchester club’s executives.

“It is an issue that was already known. Since we all have our limitations, we have to sell players to respect the Financial Fair Play rules and find ways to draft contracts with new players.

“Financial Fair Play aims at a financial balance, so that only generated revenues are spent and inflation is avoided. Yes, many other clubs have inflated their budgets; this is now coming to light and, as is natural, a decline is being noticed.

“This is an issue for the courts and the responsible parties to decide. I am sorry, given the way that team played. With Guardiola, there were moments when they were unrivalled,” Emery said.