A familiar foe for Manchester City once again raises his head | OneFootball

Manchester City being involved in legal cases is just part and parcel of football at this point. We have seen Manchester City have a legal ‘victory’ over the Premier League over the Premier League’s Associated Party Transaction rules. We are also currently awaiting a verdict on City’s infamous ‘115’ case. Now we have a fresh legal challenge thrown Manchester City’s way. This time from a familiar foe for the world champions in La Liga president Javier Tebas. As sure as the sun rises every morning, you can also be sure that Tebas will have something to say about Manchester City at least once a season.

Javier Tebas takes aim at Manchester City and the City Football Group.

At the Financial Times Business in Football Summit in London on Thursday, Javier Tebas confirmed that La Liga had made a submission to the European Commission to investigate Manchester City for financial irregularities. In quotes relayed by Michael Pavitt for the Daily Mail, Javier Tebas has this to say about Manchester City and the City Football Group: “City were already expelled from European competition for two seasons but then they went to the Court of Arbitration for Sport – we call it a “court” but it’s not really a court of justice.”

“Manchester City were not condemned. UEFA was clear in the sanctions. In the case of the Premier League’s charges, I don’t know whether Manchester City will be deducted one point or 50 points or get relegated. All I know is the UEFA sanction was just, regardless of what CAS ruled.”

“Related parties need to be kept at arms length. It’s the same in every other sector, so why not football? When City Football Group bought Girona, they sent five players on loan. We checked the valuations, we calculated they were 40 times higher than Manchester City claimed. We used our valuation, and that’s why there was no complaint or sanction.“

Tebas had even more to say about Manchester City.

Javier Tebas had more to say when he added: “What worries me about Manchester City is something else. They have a group of companies outside of City Football Group. They saddle all their expenses to these companies.”

“For example, they have scouting or marketing companies who accrue high expenses. They invoice Manchester City for low amounts. It allows Man City to have a structure that circumvents the rules. We have reported Man City to the EU.”

“Even though they are an English team, and not part of the EU, they still have commercial activities in Europe. We first made the complaint in July 2023 and there are now regulations in place allowing the EU to look at companies like City Football Group.”

“There are two aspects. The first is checking Manchester City are not using other companies to cheat the system. The second element is a bigger battle to stop football ending up in the hands of State-owned entities without proper policing. Our case against Man City relates to two things. We take issue with some of the prices the club have paid. And we question who the club can saddle losses on other related companies that are not directly part of City Football Group.”

“You remember the case in the USA, the Enron case. They put losses into different companies. These are similar cases. It’s not just Man City, either. We have reported PSG to the EU. As for Newcastle, we haven’t done anything about them yet. We don’t have enough data.”

“I can’t speak to any sanctions for Manchester City on this matter yet.”

One quote from Khaldoon Al-Mubarak does appear relevant when Javier Tebas speaks about Manchester City.

First of all, I’m not an expert on the finances of football. For a detailed analysis on the matter Javier Tebas has raised, football finance expert Stefan Borson has completed an excellent breakdown on the matter on X. It can be found at the following link.

But in regards to Javier Tebas’ fresh comments, they do remind me of a quote from Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak. Speaking with mancity.com in 2019 he said when speaking about Tebas and La Liga: “He talks about how we distorted the market? There is a hypocrisy in this statement that is ironic. Number one, let’s look at the Spanish league, the time of breaking records on player acquisitions, I mean, who started that? Let’s go back to the world records, [Luis] Figo, [Zinedine] Zidane. These huge jumps in these transfers, where did they happen? You know, the history, you have to look back at the history of La Liga, a league dominated by two clubs, and Mr Tebas should look back at the history of that league and how distortion has happened throughout the ages.”

Khaldoon Al-Mubarak’s statement rings true in 2025 as well. Javier Tebas has long cried wolf in regards to La Liga and the spending power. He regularly overlooks the fact that Real Madrid and Barcelona dominate La Liga, and due to this, his product suffers. Or the fact that one of La Liga’s biggest cash cows in Barcelona is beset with financial issues. But that is often overlooked by Tebas when he speaks about financial fairness in football. But that’s another topic entirely.

As for La Liga’s submission against Manchester City that will be dealt with in time. But you do wonder if the heavy accusations Javier Tebas throws at Manchester City will one day come back and bite him. If City are found to have not broken any EU laws committed and haven’t committed an ‘Enron’ to borrow Tebas comments you do wonder what City will do with Tebas accusations. That remains to be seen.

It remains to be seen what comes of the case La Liga has brought to the European Commission in regards to Manchester City. That will be known in time. But perhaps with comments from La Liga president Javier Tebas the best approach is the one adopted by Pep Guardiola. Speaking ahead of his team’s FA Cup tie against Plymouth Argyle the City manager refused to answer questions about Tebas’ fresh comments. Until their is a resolution on the matter perhaps that is the best approach to take.