La Liga chief complains to European Commission over Manchester City and Newcastle?

State ownership has become the new reality in European football. Manchester City, Paris Saint Germain, Newcastle. UAE has taken over the Citizens, winning seven Premier League titles, three FA Cups, six League Cups and the Champions League since 2008. Qatar State took the Parisians and won multiple Ligue 1 titles since, while Saudi Arabia is in Newcastle, trying to make their own empire. They have a strong opposition, but so far they haven’t been able to do much against the Arabs. And now, a new complaint came, this time to the European Commission.

As revealed by the Daily Mail, Europe’s governing body has received complaints against the two clubs from multiple parties concerning new rules designed to prevent ‘state aid’ from distorting markets across the continent. A well-informed source with knowledge of the Premier League’s financial and legal frameworks told In The Money that City and Newcastle are being looked at by the European Commission following complaints that state funding of the pair has been ‘seriously distorting’ EU markets in this case in the football industry.

Money is tight at the richest club in the world

„We can confirm receipt of submissions regarding football clubs, including UK clubs, which we are assessing. The Foreign Subsidies Regulation addresses distortions caused by financial contributions granted by non-EU governments to companies engaging in an economic activity in the EU internal market“ said the EU spokesperson. The spokesperson added that the complaints come under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR), which became law in January and has been in force since June. What is not helping United and City is the fact that even thou Great Brittain is not a part of the European Union anyomore, Premier League clubs are still covered by the FSR.

This kid is supposed to replace Mahrez and justify his $70 million price tag. Good luck with that!

One question that the British media couldn’t work out (for now) is who made the complaint. But since there is one big critic of state-owned clubs in Spain, all heads turned to La Liga, and it’s president, Javier Tebas. He is the long-time opposer to PSG’s ownership and already complained to the EC over Qatar’s ’ unfair’ aid to the Parisian, so everybody assumes it’s him again. La Liga declined to comment on this, although they confirmed recently they had made a formal complaint to the EC about Paris Saint Germain.

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Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan are considered to be the real owners of Newcastle United and Manchester City. The explanation, which was accepted by the Premier League in both takeover deals was that Magpies are being run by the Saudi public investment fund PIF, while Sheikh Mansour City’s ownership is a personal venture.  And that would be fine if Mansour was not a member of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi and deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates. As far as PIF is concerned, their chairman is de facto Mohammed bin Salman, the king of Saudi Arabia...

PREMIER LEAGUE - MATCHDAY 3

Friday

Chelsea - Luton 3-0 (1-0)

/Sterling 17, 68, Jackson 75/

Saturday

Bournemouth - Tottenham 0-2 (0-1)

/Maddison 17, Kulusevski 63/

Arsenal - Fulham 2-2 (0-1)

/Saka 70 pen, Nketiah 72 - Pereira 1, Palhinha 87/

Brentford - Crystal Palace 1-1 (1-0)

/Schade 18 - Andersen 76/

Everton - Wolves 0-1 (0-0)

/Kalajdzic 87/

Man Utd - Nottingham Forest 3-2 (1-2)

/Eriksen 17, Casemiro 52, Bruno 76 pen - Awoniyi 1, Boly 4/

Brighton - West Ham 1-3 (0-1)

/Gross 81 - Ward-Prowse 19, Bowen 58, Antonio 63/

Sunday

16:00 (3.20) Burnley (3.40) Aston Villa (2.25)

16:00 (15.0) Sheffield United (7.25) Manchester City (1.18)

18:30 (2.30) Newcastle (3.70) Liverpool (3.15)

***odds are subject to change