Unai Emery justified with new Man City comments after delicate Aston Villa balancing act

Unai Emery has given his views on the Manchester City charges - a case Aston Villa fans will be watching closely.

While Villa have abided by the rules, meaning the loss of key player after key player, City have been found guilty of breaching more than 100 of them.

The Premier League announced this week an independent commission had found City guilty of 100-plus charges brought against them.

City confirmed on Friday they are to appeal that decision, meaning the case will drag on for longer yet.

Villa can rightly argue they are one of a number of clubs impacted financially by City's bending of the rules.

Emery has now been asked for his opinion on the matter and, while falling short of calling out City, he does not seem pleased.

How are Aston Villa linked to Man City case?

It is important to point out that these charges run across a nine-year period between 2009 to 2018.

As a reminder, Villa did business with City at the start of that period as skipper Gareth Barry was sold for £12million.

We now know figures that summer were skewed, with City claiming they had claimed more in sponsorship revenue through natural means than they actually did.

Even away from the transfers, with James Milner another purchased used through money City potentially could not have used, the sides also started to go opposite ways in the league.

Villa fell down the standings - and eventually out of the Premier League - while City climbed it and started to benefit from Champions League cash.

Each league position is worth millions, while it goes without saying there is a financial chasm in terms of teams competing in the Champions League and those not even in the Premier League.

Had City not broken the rules, there is an argument that Villa would have been multi-millions better off.

What has Unai Emery said about Man City charges?

More recently, outside of this period, City have continued to spend large sums of money.

This money arguably would not have been theirs had they not cheated in the first place.

Villa have gone about the rules the right way, raising another £300m through player sales they would rather have kept.

It has been a delicate balancing act for a while now, yet through it all Emery has continued to work wonders.

The Spaniard has now been asked about how he feels about the City saga.

"It is an issue that was already known,” Mundo Deportivo report him saying.

“We all have our restrictions; we have to sell players to comply with Financial Fair Play, and we have to figure out how to structure contracts for new signings.

“Fair Play seeks financial balance so that spending aligns with revenue and inflation is avoided. Yes, many other clubs have inflated their budgets, and now it’s coming to light, and naturally, there is a decline.”

Emery sounds slightly annoyed, without really getting angry about the situation publicly.

He did go on to say "I feel bad" given a lot of this happened under the Pep Guardiola regime, at which point City were one of - if not the - best teams in the world.

Emery is right to feel disappointed - though it must be said Guardiola had nothing to do with this - given Villa have strictly followed the financial rules.

If City are hit with a severe penalty, it may well be that Villa are back above them before too long.