La Liga chief Javier Tebas has urged the European Union to apply more pressure on Paris Saint-Germain, who have ‘cheated’ Financial Fair Play.
PSG’s finances have come under scrutiny after they were able to sign Neymar and Kylian Mbappe in the summer of 2017, with the latter signed from Monaco on a two-year loan, seemingly to get around FFP.
“Madrid was an isolated point,” Tebas continued to The Daily Mail, referring to when Real Madrid were ordered to repay state aid.
“It was not a PSG or a Manchester City. In the case of PSG and Manchester City we are talking about hundreds of millions of euros during five years.
“One thing has nothing to do with the other. What worries me is that they don’t put a limit on these state-clubs and if they don’t put a limit on this inflation of the market, football will fall in the not too distant future.
“The EU cannot sanction PSG because it [Qatar] is not a state inside the EU. It is UEFA that needs to act. And it is to them that we have directed the appropriate complaints.
“In the case of PSG it’s not just them receiving state help. They make sponsorship agreements that are false; the economic quantities [involved] are not real.
“I think the EU could get involved and if UEFA don’t take action to impose a penalty on PSG then we will have to go the EU.
“They cheat. It’s nothing new. I’ve said it before. The UEFA appeals committee has reopened the case [against PSG] saying clearly that the corrections made to the values of their sponsor deals have to be bigger.
“They have recognised that the values of the sponsor deals have been inflated. I have not concerned myself with looking for friends.
“I know that there are clubs that don’t like what’s happening but as happens in the world of football they find it hard to take a step forward.
“They will have to play [a PSG-City Champions League Final] in Qatar or Dubai. It wouldn’t worry me that much.”
“In this sector they always say: ‘No, let the other guy do it so he gets the flak’. In private a lot of English clubs tell me they don’t like this at all.’
“What does he say to the theory that FFP only serves the interests of football’s ‘old money’? Isn’t it just protectionism that would not exist in other sectors?
“Just because I’m rich I can’t set up a new supermarket and start giving away chickens and steaks. That’s called dumping and it’s prohibited. You can’t sell at a loss.
“That is why they inflate the sponsor deals because they know they cannot be in permanent loss.
“That is why they declare more income than they really have. You can’t say: we are going to cheat to compete.’
“They will have to play [a PSG-City Champions League Final] in Qatar or Dubai. It wouldn’t worry me that much.
“What worries me is what is happening in the football industry because perhaps they could reach the Final without cheating; it can be that they are great clubs.
“The television deal for the Premier League is at such a high level and that makes Manchester City very competitive.
“And you have to say that they have done a much better job, in terms of the brand, but not to the degree to be the team that have made more signings over the last five years than anyone else in Europe.
“It does not give them enough for that level. So although it’s less than PSG it has to be corrected. But they are in the Premier League and the Premier generates more money than the French league.”
