Manchester City are the “polluters of football” and players are turning themselves into “merchandise” by joining them.
That’s according to Pierre van Hooijdonk, who showed no hesitation in criticising the Premier League champions in comments relayed by Soccer News.
Manchester City are now one of the biggest clubs in Europe after a decade long surge to the top thanks to the funds pumped into the club by the Abu Dhabi based Abu Dhabi United Group, the investment company for the club’s royal family, owner by Sheikh Mansour.
They have transformed the club into Premier League and Champions League winners, headed up by Pep Guardiola, as well as making them the lead club in a network of clubs around the world.
Their success has been tainted by constant cheating claims, though, with the club currently locked in a legal dispute with the Premier League over 115 charges made by the league.
These charges are focused on breaches of Financial Fair Play and Profit and Sustainability Rules, citing a failure to provide accurate accounts, failure to comply with UEFA regulations and even a failure to cooperate with Premier League investigations into the matter.
That, coupled with their success and a consistent hoovering up of talent has led to a dislike among fans in football of the club and some of the methods they’ve employed.
Van Hooijdonk is clearly one of them and was clearly happy to lay into Manchester City ahead of them taking on Feyenoord in the Champions League on Tuesday.
“That was still at Maine Road. When City was still a real club,” he said when discussing playing against them in his own career.
“I think they have become the polluters of football. They are doing great, are very successful, but they have really changed football. With the many clubs they have under them.
“They (players) are signed by City at a very young age. They earn many times more than they can earn in the Netherlands or other countries. A lot of young boys choose to do that. That is what I mean by letting themselves be used.
“It is professional football, but the way it is done, I don’t really care about that. I’m just glad they didn’t take over NAC. That almost happened. Other clubs did go, Troyes, Girona.
“Manchester City benefits from that to the maximum. Savinho played for both clubs, developed and was then brought in here. And that is still a normal process. But most of them are merchandise.”
