Pep Guardiola: Manchester City Boss Mocks Chelsea’s Heavy Spending

Pep Guardiola: Manchester City Boss Mocks Chelsea’s Heavy Spending

Martin Moses
updated at April 12, 2023 at 8:24 PM
In this article:
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  • Pep Guardiola has aimed a light dig at Chelse's spending by comparing it to Manchester City's
  • Chelsea owners splashed out money on eight new players in the January transfer window
  • Manchester City have in the past had issues with UEFA after they broke the Fair Play rules

Manchester City Head Coach Pep Guardiola has ridiculed Chelsea's recent activities in the transfer market.

Chelsea signed eight new players in the January transfer window with Enzo Fernandez and Mykhailo Mudryk particularly arriving for huge sums of money.

Pep Guardiola, Manchester City, Chelsea, Todd Boehly, FFP rules
Chelsea owner Todd Boehly in the stands ahead of the Premier League match at Stamford Bridge, London on Friday, February 3, 2023. Photo by John Walton
Source: Getty Images

The Blues' owners, Todd Boehly and Clearlake consortium have been in the news headlines due to their extravagant spending since they took over last summer.

Questions on Financial Fair Play have been raised with many wondering how Chelsea has managed to remain on the good side of the stringent UEFA laws.

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Proper state

Guardiola has now joined the bandwagon questioning whether Chelsea is a 'state-backed' club.

"It’s not my business. It’s not my business, surprised because it’s not a proper state funding Chelsea. What I’m concerned about is the fact we won 11 titles in the last five years, being the fifth or sixth team for net spend in the Premier League, so this is all that I’m concerned about what we’ve done so far in this time," as quoted by Metro UK.

Manchester City have also been in the spotlight over their spending in the past. The Premier League defending champions were banned from the Champions League before the Court of Arbitration of Sports overturned the decision.

How Chelsea are avoiding the FFP rules

Sports Brief had earlier reported that multiple questions have been raised about Chelsea's willingness to spend huge wads of cash on transfer targets.

The Blues have often been blasted for paying excess money for otherwise moderate players. The club recently forked out close to 88 million euros to land Ukrainian sensation, Mykhailo Mudryk. They then paid 120 million euros to sign Enzo Fernandez from Benfica - a British record fee.

For Mudryk, Chelsea had to outbid Arsenal and offer better wages, with the Shakhtar Donetsk winger believed to have preferred a move to the red side of London.

Authors
Martin Moses photo
Martin Moses
Martin Moses is a sports journalist with over five years of experience in media. He graduated from Multimedia University of Kenya (Bachelor of Journalism, 2017-2021)
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