Pep Guardiola demands Premier League investigation into Manchester City cleared ‘as soon as possible’

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola would like a decision to be made soon on the alleged breaches of financial rules the club are facing.

In February, City were charged with breaking Financial Fair Play breaches over 100 times during a nine-year period between 2009-2018 by the Premier League.

The Blues won five league titles in the period under Roberto Mancini, Manuel Pellegrini and current head coach Pep Guardiola, who saw his side be crowned champions of England for the third season running after a 1-0 win over Chelsea on Sunday.

Ahead of a trip to Brighton on Wednesday, Guardiola was asked if the wait for a decision to be made on the club’s fate amid the ongoing investigation is frustrating.

The Catalan said: “We accept it’s there. If it happened, it happened. It happened with UEFA (in 2020), and after we decided what happened. Now it’s the Premier League. So… let’s go!

“Come on! 24 hours, sit down, talk, both sides, lawyers present. Don’t wait one year, two years. Why don’t we do it quickly! Come on, as soon as possible, for the benefit of everyone!

“But I know there are many, many cases around the world for many injustices and affairs, and maybe they are so busy, but hopefully we can do it as soon as possible.”

Manchester City are in touching distance of a potential treble of trophies this season ahead of an FA Cup final showdown against Manchester United at Wembley and the Champions League final against Inter in Istanbul.

“No one, not even of course of us because we want to defend our principles. And if the people have doubts, okay, let’s do it as soon as possible, please. This is why we’d love it,” Guardiola added.

The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager will end his seventh season in north-west England as a five-time Premier League champion and he is not looking to part ways with his club anytime soon.

“I will stay here next season, yeah. I will stay next season with 100 breaches for the Premier League against us, don’t worry. We will be there,” the 52-year-old said.

“It’s just one season at a time. What I would like is the Premier League could, or the judges, make (a decision) as soon as possible. Because if we’ve done something wrong, everybody will know it.

“And if we are like we believe we are, like we have done as a club for many years in the right way, and the people start to stop sometimes to talk about that. We would love it tomorrow! This afternoon better than tomorrow! We would love it.

“Hopefully they are not so busy, and the judges can see it and listen to both sides, and at the end decide what is the best because at the end I know fairly what we won, we won on the pitch because we deserve it. That I don’t have any doubts.”