Pep Guardiola has attacked Chelsea over their enormous spending this season. The recent change of ownership for the blues last May has led to numerous high-profile transfers. This has drawn reactions from all over the footballing world, the Manchester City has been very critical of this.
Mammoth Spending for the Blues
Chelsea have spent over £300 million just in the January transfer window on several star-studded players. The Blues have spent about £550 million since Todd Boehly took over the club. Their top signings include Enzo Fernandez(£107m), Mykhaylo Mudryk(£88m), Benoit Badiashile(£34m), Noni Madueke(£30m), and a host of big-money young talent. Their heavy signings haven’t been fruitful till now as they sit 9th in the table with half the season already over. A club that was facing ownership problems, sacking of Tuchel as their manager, still manage to land such star players feels a bit odd. Mainly because their performance on the field has been rather lackluster.
City Manager cries foul
City Manager Guardiola took a dig at their premier league rival. He questioned the Stamford Bridge Outfit for their heavy spending at a time when their club was supposedly going through restructuring and management changes. City was to be banned from the Champions League in 2020, Guardiola has said that there is hypocrisy over how his club’s spending is talked about compared to Chelsea’s.
Guardiola when asked about it said:
“None of my business. It’s a surprise because it’s not a state club. We won 11 titles in the last five years being one of the five or six net spend teams in the league.”
He added that what Chelsea has done or what other Premier League rivals are doing doesn’t matter to him much.
But he was angered because about 8 to 10 teams wrote against City’s spending in the transfer market when actually they were overall 5th in net spend. This resulted in them being banned from the Champions League as they were accused of Financial Fair Play (FFP) breaches. Luckily City won the appeal in the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and their ban was overturned.
Just days back, the Premier League has charged the Etihad Stadium outfit with numerous breaches of financial rules over a 9-year period starting from 2009 and going up till 2018. If they are found guilty then it could lead to severe punishments for the Manchester-based outfit including points deduction, expulsion from the league or even stripping off titles won during this period. Guardiola was left fuming after the news broke, was seen visibly frustrated at their recent training session.
The Road Ahead
According to The Evening Standard, Chelsea are on the UEFA ‘watch list’ over their huge spending. The blues are hoping that their long contract lengths associated with huge fees will help them avoid punishment.
Graham Potter’s side are 10th in the Premier League and chances are slim they will be able to play European football next season. This could also spell punishment for the blues. Chelsea have a humongous squad of 33 players having welcomed about 16 new players over the last six months. Chelsea’s manager hope to keep all players happy and said:
“It’s exciting and a test for me, of course, and the staff. But it’s an exciting one. We’ve got a lot of really good players and we have to create an environment where there is healthy competition and players can push each other.”
City on the other end are battling against the alleged breaches they have been accused of whereas Chelsea are trying to figure out how to climb back on the table. Both the clubs are facing different battles which are equally significant.
Follow us on Twitter to get regular football updates.
