The Footy Mumble: City stealing from Barcelona, EPL clubs threaten legal action
Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho have both been linked with a move to the Premier League next season after they attended a meeting for Premier League managers over the weekend.
Guardiola, on a sabbatical after leaving Barcelona last season, has already confirmed his interest in moving to the Premier League. And Mourinho’s future is in doubt too, with his not-too-happy relationship with Real president Florentino Perez well known, along with the team’s poor performances in the La Liga this season.
If they do move to England, both will be linked to the same clubs, with Arsenal, Chelsea and both Manchester clubs linked to Guardiola, while United, City and Chelsea again getting linked to Mourinho as well.
Premier League clubs, including Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool are reportedly ready to take legal action to ensure strict action is taken against big spending clubs under the Financial Fair Play rules.
Ever since the introduction of FFP, there have been major doubts about UEFA’s willingness to take action against mega-rich clubs like PSG, Man City and Chelsea.
Both Man City and PSG have resorted to controversial mega-deals with Etihad and Qatar Tourism Authority respectively. City signed a £400 million deal with Etihad for stadium rights over the next 10 years while PSG signed a massive deal worth £150 million a year with Qatar Tourism.
This despite the fact that Etihad have failed to make a single profit in the last 7 years, while the PSG deal is more than double the club’s revenue for 2010-11.
Both have raised controversies about loopholes in the FFP and it seems Man United, Arsenal and Liverpool will not be sitting quiet about it.
Barcelona president Sandro Rosell has claimed that Manchester City are trying to tempt several of their staff away from the Nou Camp and to the Etihad.
“Manchester City have indeed launched an offensive to lure a number of people away from Barcelona,” Rosell told RAC1.
“We’re talking about people at all levels of the Barca structure, not just players. Their attempts have been unsuccessful, though, as our employees are happy here.
“There have been contacts, but we have a fantastic group of people and nobody wants to go.”
City have already signed former Barcelona directors Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano. This has been the source of rumours of Pep Guardiola joining the club in the summer.
Loic Remy
In today’s transfer news, Loic Remy is on the verge of completing a move to Queens Park Rangers with only a medical pending. Remy has reportedly been offered a €100,000 in wages and an option to leave the club if they get relegated at the end of the season.
David De Gea, meanwhile, has been linked with a Spanish return yet again. While previously Real Madrid were linked with the Manchester United goalkeeper, now it’s the turn of their arch-rivals, Barcelona, to be linked with a move.
With both clubs having top goalkeepers at their disposal, it is hard to see either of them making a move for De Gea.
In today’s Video of the Day, watch the reactions of Manchester United and Liverpool fans after the clash of the two clubs on Sunday in the Premier League: