Mikel Arteta breaks silence on Man City guilty verdict and makes Premier League title claim

Mikel Arteta watches video messages from supporters, ex and current players after signing a new contractat Arsenal (Picture: Getty) Mikel Arteta has insisted his conscience is clear after former club Manchester City were found guilty of breaking Premier League rules.

Arteta, who served as Pep Guardiola’s assistant at the Etihad Stadium for three years, was speaking for the first time since his one-time employers were found by an independent commission to have breached more than 100 financial regulations.

City have launched an appeal – with current manager Enzo Maresca insisting the under-fire club’s success has not been tainted – and, during a tense news conference at Arsenal’s London Colney headquarters, Arteta called for the ‘process to be respected’.

Arteta, who largely refused to engage with questions surrounding the case, joined Arsenal from City in 2019. City have been accused of breaking the rules between 2009 and 2018.

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Asked directly if his conscience was clear, Arteta replied: ‘Yes.’

It was put to Arteta that he was in a “unique” position, having worked as a senior figure at City.

‘The process has been going for various years,’ he said. ‘That process is still not finished. So, it is very difficult to express how I feel, because it is not resolved.

‘When it is resolved I can talk with clarity and tell you exactly how I feel.’

Quizzed at to whether he was looking forward to a resolution, Arteta said: ‘We need to trust that the people in charge will resolve it in the timeframe that they believe is the best for everybody.’

Arteta was later probed as to whether the Premier League remains the best in the world despite City’s guilty verdict casting a huge shadow over the division. ‘One hundred per cent,’ he said.

Asked if the league had been ‘damaged’ by City’s verdict, Arteta reverted to his stock line. ‘There is a process that is not resolved,’ he said.

‘It is ongoing and we can have a much clearer opinion once it’s been resolved.’

November 2018: German newspaper Der Spiegel publish claims Manchester City have breached FFP rules

March 2019: UEFA launch investigation into the claims

May 2019: Manchester City launch an appeal against the investigation

November 2019: The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rules the appeal as inadmissible

February 2020: Manchester City are handed a two-year ban from European competition and a €30m fine by UEFA

July 2020: The ban is overturned after the club appeal to CAS

April 2022: Der Spiegel report the Premier League has been investigating Manchester City for three years

February 2023: The Premier League charges the club with 115 breaches of its financial rules

September 2024: Start of a 10-week hearing between the Premier League and Manchester City

September 2026: Reports emerge that Manchester City have been found guilty on all but one of the 115 financial rules the club are accused of breaking

Arteta also elected against revealing if he had spoken to Guardiola since the crushing verdict was released a fortnight ago. ‘I prefer not to answer those questions,’ he said.

And whether he felt his memories of his period at the Etihad Stadium how now been ‘tainted’, Arteta said: ‘Again, I understand the question and where they are coming from. There is a lot of noise around it. It is an ongoing process that has not been resolved yet.’

Arsenal are bidding to retain the league and will view City, who have won all five matches so far, as their closest challengers.

‘I don’t know (if it will hand Arsenal an advantage),’ he said. ‘That’s something that’s not in our hands.

‘What we think about is us, about what we do and what we want to achieve. That’s it. The rest is something that we don’t control, we have never controlled it, and we don’t want to control it.’

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