Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has claimed that Manchester City are not alone in bending financial regulations, speaking out after an independent commission ruled that City had breached Premier League rules on 114 of 115 charges brought against them.
The commission's findings centre on allegations that City ran a "disguised funding scheme" between 2009 and 2018, with reports suggesting the arrangement concealed more than £830million in secret funding. City have confirmed they intend to appeal the ruling, meaning the long-running saga is far from resolved. No sanction has yet been imposed on the club, who continue to reject any suggestion of wrongdoing.
At the heart of City's defence is the argument that the funding in question originated from the Abu Dhabi state itself, rather than from Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG), the private investment vehicle that owns the club. ADUG is controlled by Sheikh Mansour, who serves as the United Arab Emirates' vice-president and deputy prime minister. The Premier League's case, brought in February 2023, centres on accusations that City artificially inflated sponsorship revenues through contracts and agreements that were not genuine.
Speaking to Diario de Sevilla, Emery said he was not surprised by the outcome, suggesting the wider issue of clubs stretching financial regulations has long been an open secret within English football.
"It's an issue that was already known," Emery said. "Because we all have our restrictions, we have to sell players to comply with Financial Fair Play, we have to figure out how to draw up contracts with new people."
The Villa boss went on to explain the underlying purpose of Financial Fair Play regulations, while suggesting City are far from the only club to have pushed beyond those boundaries.
"Financial Fair Play seeks a financial balance so that what you generate is spent and there isn't inflation," he said. "Yes, many other clubs have inflated their budgets, and now it's coming to light, and naturally there's a decline. That's something that the courts and those responsible will have to decide."
Emery also reflected on City's dominance under Pep Guardiola, expressing sympathy for how the situation has unfolded given the quality of football the team has produced in recent years.
"I feel sorry because how that team played," he added. "With [Pep] Guardiola, there were times when they were unmatched."
Emery's comments arrive at a time when financial regulation has become an increasingly prominent talking point across English and European football. His own club, Aston Villa, were fined by UEFA in June after the European governing body determined they had committed a "significant breach" of its squad cost rule during the 2025 financial year. Villa were not alone in facing sanction, with Chelsea, Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United all receiving fines for similar breaches of UEFA's financial regulations.
The broader context underscores the scale of scrutiny now facing clubs across the top divisions, as governing bodies attempt to enforce spending controls designed to prevent clubs from gaining unfair competitive advantages through external financial backing.
With City's appeal process still to play out, the Premier League faces a prolonged wait before any final punishment, if one comes at all, is determined. The case is widely regarded as one of the most significant regulatory challenges in the competition's history, given the scale of the allegations and the club's continued insistence that no rules were broken.
Based on reporting from Standard Football.