MANCHESTER: Spanish league president Javier Tebas has returned to the attack over Paris Saint-Germain’s summer spending which featured the €222m purchase of Neymar and prospective €140m securing of ‘loanee’ Kylian Mbappe.

Tebas was speaking at the Soccerex conference in Manchester where he accused both PSG and ‘local’ Manchester City of ‘financial doping’ – the description of excessive spending originally coined by Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.

LaLiga’s lawyer leader accused the French club and its Qatari owners of “laughing at the system.” He added: “We’ve caught them peeing in the swimming pool. Neymar peed from the diving board. We can’t accept this.”

European governing body UEFA announced at the weekend that it had launched an urgent inquiry into PSG’s spending and whether it risked infringing the regulations laid down under its financial fair play strategy.

However Tebas said he was concerned about more clubs than PSG alone, adding: “It is not just about PSG but also Manchester City. I need more money from TV, otherwise Manchester City with its oil will take all these players.”

City’s summer spend of £215m was the biggest by any club in any transfer window while PSG more than doubled the world record transfer fee when they paid Neymar’s contract buy-out from Barcelona.

Tebas warned there could easily be more to come from the French capital, saying: “We think the rules have been infringed.  It’s not that I don’t like PSG. But what happens when this money comes into European football? There is an inflation of salaries and transfer fees. This is damaging football. There is an incredible risk when such money comes in from states.”

Such illicit investment, Tebas suggested, could even sweep up Neymar’s former Barcelona team-mate Leo Messi as well as Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo.

He said: “Their buy out clauses are higher but – if they want – all PSG has to do is open the gas tap. That is the problem. This is not football’s market price. It’s gas market price.”

##############