La Liga are planning to take legal action against Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain for ‘continuously breaching the current regulations of financial fair play.’
LaLiga president Javier Tebas has spoken out frequently against the spending of City and PSG and the Spanish league is now ready to take their grievances to the courts of the European Union.
Much of his ire has come to the fore again after Manchester City sealed a £51million deal for Erling Haaland and PSG resigned Kylian Mbappe on a three-year deal worth £650,000 a week.
As a result of Mbappe’s money-spinning new deal, Tebas and La Liga filed a complaint against PSG with UEFA this week, reports Marca, joining the league’s complaint against Man City from April.
Earlier this month Tebas accused PSG of ‘destroying the ecosystem of European football’ after Kylian Mbappe, who was expected to sign for Real Madrid on a free, agreed a jaw-dropping £650,000-a-week, three-year deal to stay in Paris.
‘They are going to have to cheat,’ Tebas said at an event on Monday, as quoted by Marca. ‘I don’t know if paying outside the French environment or fattening up the sponsorships a lot.’
We are not going to allow a European team to destroy the ecosystem of European football,’ he added, when Mbappe’s new deal was revealed.
‘It’s not a problem of French football but of European football. We want Ligue 1 to be a sustainable competition. It’s not good for the industry. Our claim regarding the PSG case has already been drafted and we will be filing it to UEFA in the coming days.
‘I believe this is what we have to do to defend European football and Spanish football and we are going to do it.’
Tebas’ public shaming of PSG and Man City have drawn stinging rebukes, including one from the head of the French league.
Ligue 1 chairman Vincent Labrune recently reminded Tebas that Real Madrid and Barcelona ‘had benefitted from illegal state aid’ and spend enormous sums on transfer fees and wages themselves.
Labrune said: ‘First, in relation to financial stability and sustainability, two of your clubs – Real Madrid and Barcelona – have broken a multitude of records in the past decade.
‘In terms of transfer fees, these two clubs have broken the world record six times. In terms of player salaries, Real Madrid currently has two of the highest-paid players in world football sat on their bench [Gareth Bale and Eden Hazard].
‘In terms of debt, Barcelona is reported to have a debt level of €1.5billion, and this is despite the European Court of Justice finding that Real Madrid and Barcelona benefitted from illegal state aid.
‘Over the past 10 years, LaLiga spent 32 per cent more on players than Ligue 1; and significantly more on foreign players outside your own league compared to Ligue 1.’
Read press statement below:
