Jose Mourinho is unlikely to be shocked by Manchester City being charged with over 100 financial fair play breaches given his comments about their spending sprees previously.
The Premier League released a statement on Monday that revealed that they had charged City with over 100 financial breaches following a four-year investigation. The charges, which are spread across a nine-year period, have now been passed on and an independent investigation is set to get underway.
The statement came as a surprise to City, who are keen to put the matter ‘to bed’. Though it won’t have shocked Mourinho, who addressed the spending of the Etihad Stadium outfit during his time at Manchester United and conceded that his side would not be able to compete at the very top level at that time due to their financial limitations in comparison to their rivals.
Speaking during a Red Devils press conference in 2017, he explained: “You think the club can put here now £600 million and let’s buy six players of £100 million? The club cannot do that. I cannot expect the club to do that, so it’s not critical and you can see how the market is, especially with the top teams.
“Can we buy six or seven players at the same time? Can we invest £600-700 million? No. So, it’s difficult. I think the last years, the market is going in such a direction or you belong to one of these clubs where there is no limit and you just buy what you want and there is no limit, there is no financial fair play, there is nothing, you do what you want – or it’s hard.”
Mourinho then directly addressed City’s spending, hinting that their spending somewhat guarantees success as they can replace players instantly, continuing: “But, you know, without taking any credit away from Manchester City and Pep [Guardiola], and his staff, and the players, they obviously have lots of credit in what they are doing.
