Aston Villa told to gear up for legal battle against Manchester City after what Gabby Agbonlahor experienced

Gabby Agbonlahor hasn't held back against Manchester City after years of struggle at Aston Villa.

The Villans have dealt with their fair share of financial frustration in recent years.

PSR and SCR have both taken their toll on the progress that Unai Emery has been able to make.

That now appears to be secondary to the issues that are being dealt with at the Etihad Stadium.

The Citizens have been found guilty of 114 charges related to breaches of Premier League financial regulations.

This development has rubbed Agbonlahor up the wrong way as he relates the situation back to his Aston Villa days.

What has Gabby Agbonlahor said about Manchester City?

The former striker has never been shy about voicing his opinion on various matters.

The current situation surrounding Enzo Maresca's side is no different.

They have been accused of breaking the rules between 2009 and 2018, with the Premier League suggesting they failed to provide accurate financial details across various matters.

In that time, they have become the Manchester City that we now know as eight-time Premier League champions, Champions League winners while also having 11 domestic cup titles under their belt in the last 17 years.

That has coincided with the downfall and rebuild of Aston Villa, who had been consistently challenging for a top four finish before the emergence of the Sky Blues

Agbonlahor played a key role for the Villans in these years and has voiced his frustration, while urging his old side to gear up for a legal battle.

Speaking via talkSPORT on Monday, he said: "I played in that era, 2009 to 2018. We got relegated in 2016, for six seasons I played in it. You know what they did in 2009? They took our best player, Gareth Barry. You know what they did in 2010? They took our best player, James Milner. You know what they did in 2014? They took our best player, Fabian Delph.

"As a Villa player in that era, a bunch of cheaters have taken our best players, we've gone to the Etihad and got some spankings from Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero and David Silva, where did they get the money from to buy these players?

"If I'm these teams, get your lawyers ready, let's go, we want paying. All the money that Man City might have to pay clubs is off the scale."

There will always be questions of where Villa could have been if rules hadn't have been breached, so let's assess that.

Where would Aston Villa be if not for Manchester City's financial breaches?

All this is alleged to have begun in 2009 as the Citizens really started to push up the Premier League table.

In the 09/10 campaign they finished one place above Villa in fifth as both qualified for the Europa League.

This is where both sides went down different paths as City went on to snatch Milner from B6 and secure a third place spot.

Meanwhile, the claret and blue outfit slumped to ninth without their England international midfielder.

The slide at Villa Park only continued from there as they finished 16th as the Etihad club lifted the Premier League.

In just three seasons, they had gone from being below the Villans to winning the title as 14 places separated the two.

They then had a telling say in eventual relegation in B6 after signing Delph in a massively controversial deal after comments made by the midfielder.

That saw Villa miss out on the new Premier League broadcasting deal that saw Sky and BT Sport pay a record £5.136billion for three seasons, lasting until 2018/19.

The claret and blue outfit were in the Championship for those years, so missed out on a share of those funds.

That would have represented a figure upwards of £307m if they finished in 17th in each of those years, something which would have been inflated by a better finish.

Instead, Villa featured in the Championship and earned an estimated fee closer to £110m, marking a £197m difference.

No one will ever know exactly what would have happened if they hadn't come in and taken the ex-Leeds United man, Barry and Milner away from B6.

It is clearly in Agbonlahor's mind that things would have been different for his side.

There will now be eyes on the punishment moving forward, although who knows when that will come into effect.