Ander Herrera Claims Manchester City Breaches Caused 'Irreparable Damage' to Rivals

Former Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera stated that Manchester City's decade of rules breaching deprived him of a Premier League title during the 2017-18 season.

Manchester City were found guilty last month on nearly all of the 100-plus charges regarding serious breaches of Premier League financial regulations between 2009 and 2018. Former Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera, who now plays for Real Zaragoza, told the Mario Suárez podcast that these violations deprived him of a league championship. During the 2017-18 campaign, Herrera’s United side finished in second place, trailing City by 19 points.

The 37-year-old Spaniard noted that while he won four trophies during his five-year tenure at Old Trafford from 2014 to 2019, the Premier League title was not among them. Herrera cited former manager José Mourinho’s past comments regarding the difficulty of that second-place finish as evidence that internal figures suspected irregularities at the time. He further alleged that while fans struggled to obtain tickets for Old Trafford, tickets for the Etihad Stadium were frequently given away for free.

Herrera argued that the sanctions for these breaches must be significant enough to set a precedent, suggesting relegation as a potential deterrent for future illegal revenue inflation. He pointed to the four-point deduction given to Nottingham Forest in 2022-23 and the 10-point penalty issued to Everton in 2021-22 as existing examples of league discipline. According to Herrera, the financial impact extends to clubs like Tottenham, who missed Champions League qualification after finishing fifth for three consecutive years.