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Uefa confirm Manchester City are not being investigated for Financial Fair Play infringements

European football’s governing body on Monday was forced to clarify its position after a statement from the Spanish league had earlier revealed that they had lodged a formal complaint

Ed Malyon
Sports Editor
Monday 04 September 2017 19:18 BST
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City will not have their finances investigated by Uefa
City will not have their finances investigated by Uefa

Uefa has confirmed that Manchester City are not being investigated for Financial Fair Play infringements despite a complaint by La Liga and claims from the Spanish league that an investigation had been opened.

European football’s governing body on Monday was forced to clarify its position after a statement from the Spanish league had earlier revealed that they had lodged a formal complaint in which president Javier Tebas alleged City’s "funding by state-aid distorts European competitions and creates an inflationary spiral that is irreparably harming the football industry".

But a Uefa statement read: "There is no investigation into Manchester City with regards to FFP regulations. Any reports mentioning such an investigation are unsubstantiated."

Paris Saint-Germain, who earlier this summer had bought Barcelona superstar Neymar, were also named in the formal complaint sent by La Liga.

Uefa did announce last week that PSG are being investigated but The Independent understands that this was not prompted by La Liga's complaint and City’s spending is certainly not being looked at.

City have not commented on the matter but are not understood to be concerned. The club do not believe they are even close to breaching regulations and that would also have been the case had they succeeded in their deadline-day bid for Alexis Sanchez last week.

Uefa have confirmed City are not being investigated

City, who spent more than £200million in the summer transfer window, offered Arsenal £55million up front for the Chile forward on Thursday but a deal failed to materialise.

La Liga's complaints were made in a letter on August 22. The league made public its concerns in a statement on Monday.

It read: "There will be an investigation following the formal complaint filed by LaLiga asking Uefa to inspect Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City FC for violation of financial fair play regulations.

"La Liga, the association of the best football teams in Spain, is pleased that Uefa has opened a formal investigation into financial fair play at Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).

"The investigation comes after La Liga formally requested these tests from PSG and Manchester City FC in August."

PSG bought Neymar this summer for a world record £200.6million and secured another of Europe's most highly-rated players, Kylian Mbappe, on a season-long loan.

La Liga claims the finances at Qatari-owned PSG and Abu Dhabi-backed City "are not based on the market reality".

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