Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has been answering questions regarding ahead of the Manchester Derby due to take place this weekend.
One hot potato that arose in his customary pre-match press conference were the startling revelations about his side’s cross-city rivals - and opponents this weekend - Manchester City that have recently arisen.
German publication Der Spiegel this week published a series of damning indictments about the state of the Manchester City operation and their controversial owners, the Abu Dhabi United Group, headed by Sheikh Mansour.
Perhaps the most attention grabbing aspect of their in-depth investigation was that Manchester City, in collusion with FIFA President Gianni Infantino, reportedly circumnavigated UEFA’s Financial Fair Play laws. The club also apparently manipulated finances to artificially inflate their own sponsorship deals, which has drawn widespread scorn and derision from the football community.
Mourinho was of course questioned as to whether he had an opinion on City’s reported financial malpractice;
It is difficult for me to answer because I focus on my job, I focus on the four lines, focus on football, if you want to speak about their football potential we can speak and football potential starts with investment after that of course there is a quality of the work, of the organisation, I think that is untouchable but what is behind it I cannot say. But, in this moment I have only to think about football, and to think about football is to think about Manchester City as a football team there.
A diplomatic answer from the notoriously prickly Portuguese on an issue that has threatened to overshadow one of the biggest games in the football calendar.
Manchester City v Manchester United takes place Sunday 11th November at 4:30pm. You can follow all the action with The Sportsman using the link provided below.
