Financial Fair Play Quotes

We know the English market is quite high and I think that sometimes puts clubs off. I think there is a lot of hype around the Premier League.

There are lots of concerns facing English football but for me the major one is the way in which football clubs are run by owners, whether they are growing organically and sustainably and how that is being policed by the football authorities.

The Premier League's the most competitive in the world.

In the Premier League, the money is a problem, but I don't really know how to control it.

If you want to maintain the unique character of our sport in Europe, which is of great importance to millions of people, you need to be able to put associations in a position to protect the weaker clubs.

I never worried about teams who spend what they want to spend. It never bothered me. At the moment we have a lot of Middle Eastern owners, we have American owners of course, Russian owners. It never bothered me one bit. All I was concerned about was that we at United maintained our level of expectation, be competitive, be at the top part of the Premier League.

English football has just had a transfer window imposed for the first time, so it will be interesting to see how managers cope with the squads they have until it re-opens.

When I think about a mid-table club like Everton spending £150 million during the summer, I am lost for words.

Manchester City are built on sand and I don't mean that because their owners are from the Arab countries.

To be realistic, the big Dutch clubs cannot afford me. That's not because of my wages; it's the transfer fee.

People do focus on the transfer fee, but that's football.

The mandate of financial fair play in Europe is for clubs to live within their means.

I know that a lot of German clubs are unhappy with the Premier League clubs' spending, but I think it is something good for all clubs in the end.

When Atletico wanted to sell me, I was told that I earned too much money and they wanted me off the wage bill. I liked that honesty.

I kept an interested eye on the transfer window in England, which opened and closed last month, and the lack of frantic activity just goes to show the current financial state of the game right now.

One of the biggest misconceptions is that players care about transfer fees. For a player, they do not care at all. They do not care if they move clubs for one million, 10 million, or 100 million Euros. That is just something a player leaves to his agent and the clubs.

Most of our players come from the Championship; Chelsea can get more or less anyone from around the world. Some clubs in this division have owners who say it doesn't matter what they spend. I don't know what happened to Financial Fair Play but it didn't exactly level the playing field.

It's difficult in the Premier League.

You can only go so far in the Premier League before you have to spend.

Honestly, when someone speaks to me about Juventus I try to change the subject immediately. I'm ashamed of the transfer!

The cap is a discussion about competitiveness, not about money. It's about trying to bring the top teams down to a level where the midfield teams feel they can compete. The reality is that whatever the level of spend there will always be teams that run at the front and teams that run at the back.

I think Inter have been very clear: if a good offer comes in, they have to let me go. They don't want to lose me, but there is a chance they will let me go.