February 28 – La Liga president Javier Tebas has accused Manchester Metropolis of economic deception akin to that of Enron, claiming that the Premier League champions disguise losses in numerous firms to enhance the membership’s funds.
Tebas (pictured) argued that the alleged apply has allowed the Abu Dhabi-owned membership to report decrease prices and achieve an unfair aggressive benefit by signing elite gamers and securing inflated sponsorship revenues.
“The Metropolis case is one the place we consider they’ve put the losses on the businesses that aren’t formally a part of CFG (Metropolis Soccer Group),” mentioned Tebas on the Monetary Occasions Soccer Summit. “You bear in mind the case within the USA, the Enron case. They put losses into totally different firms. These are comparable instances.”
He referred to “scouting and advertising and marketing firms” that “have very excessive bills”. He added: “They bill Metropolis for much less cash. Metropolis has prices which can be lower than in the event that they didn’t have this circle of firms round them.”
In 2001, Enron imploded amid a multibillion-dollar scandal, the largest chapter reorganisation in historical past. The American firm used particular objective entities to cover their money owed and improve their income, fooling the buyers and the general public at massive.
Metropolis didn’t touch upon Tebas’s accusations.
The outspoken boss of Spanish membership soccer additionally revealed that LaLiga have submitted a criticism to the European Fee over the membership, claiming that the matter was at the moment being investigated.
“Now we have reported them to the EU. Now we have the details and figures. The UK may not be a part of the EU however Metropolis have industrial actions in Europe and in July 2023 the EU ruling mentioned that they might take a look at state-aided firms, whether or not they’re primarily based within the EU or not.
“So we requested for Metropolis to be checked. It’s crucial that each one golf equipment are topic to the identical transparency guidelines and governance on each the sporting and monetary aspect.”
At house, Manchester Metropolis have been below investigation by the Premier League for 130 prices of rule breaches. Metropolis have at all times denied any wrongdoing.
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