Pep Guardiola claims that Premier League clubs are keen to see Manchester City face sanctions over the 115 allegations of financial misconduct.
The Premier League has accused the club of illicit financing and failing to cooperate on matters between 2009 and 2018.
The charges were first levied in February 2023. If Manchester City are found guilty, the potential punishments could be severe, including relegation, the stripping of titles, and significant points deductions.
The club has strongly asserted their innocence and vowed to clear their name “once and for all.”
This is not the first time Manchester City has faced financial scrutiny; in 2020, UEFA handed the club a two-year ban from European competitions for allegedly breaching financial regulations.
However, this ruling was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2021.
The current Premier League case has sparked widespread commentary from various figures within and outside the football industry, including La Liga president Javier Tebas, who has voiced his opinions on the matter this week.
“I have spoken with many Premier League clubs and most of them understand that City should be sanctioned,” he claimed to Spanish media.
“Maybe he’s right,” Pep Guardiola said in response to these comments during Friday’s press conference.
He added: “For the fact that all the Premier League teams want us to be sanctioned, that is for sure.
“I agree with Tebas for the first time, and hopefully the last.
“I am pretty sure I agree with that.
“That’s why I say to Mr Tebas and the Premier League teams: wait for the independent panel.
“Justice is there in a modern democracy so yeah, wait for the decision, it’s not more complicated than that.
“But I don’t know if he is a lawyer or the rest of the Premier League teams are lawyers so what I ask for is that – wait, it happened with UEFA [in 2021].
“We believe that we have not done anything wrong so we go to an independent panel and we are going to wait.”
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