The Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has said that he “doesn’t know what happened” with regard to the recent revelations about the club’s alleged deception of UEFA over financial matters and that he is “focused on what happens on the pitch”.
The dealings of the Premier League champions since the takeover of Sheikh Mansour in 2008 have been under scrutiny during a recent investigation by Football Leaks which has been published by Der Spiegel, the German newspaper.
That publication claims to explain what were a series of “mendacious” manoeuvres taken on the club’s part in order to avoid the pitfalls of Uefa’s Financial Fair Play regulations and continue a campaign of aggressive investment.
But Guardiola, who has been holding a press conference ahead of his side’s Champions League tie with the Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday was not keen to dwell on the accusations.
"I think the club made a statement. I trust a lot with the club and what they have done, we want to follow the rules of Uefa, they do what they have to do.”
He did have a word to say, though, on those who level criticism at City because of the sheer volume of spending that the club’s owners have done to bring them up the footballing level they operate on now.
“If people say we win just because we have money what can we say? We work a lot,” he said.
“I've said many times that all clubs in big leagues need to spend to get good players. Without good players we cannot do that."
"If people say it's just about money we have to accept that but in my opinion it's wrong."