After UEFA announced an investigation of French club Paris St Germain (PSG), the European Club Association (ECA) held a meeting on Monday.
The meeting, which held in Geneva, was convened to elect a new chairman and to discuss the finances of European football.
PSG would be investigated to see if their recent transfer spending spree, which netted French teenager Kylian Mbappe and Barcelona forward Neymar, broke the break-even rules of UEFA – known as financial fair play.
The rules were formed to prevent clubs spending beyond their means in the hope of success, or being bankrolled by rich owners who wish to buy success.
President of French club Olympique Lyonnais, Jean-Michel Aulas, who is also in charge of the financial fair play task force at the ECA, stressed the need for financial regulation in football with huge sums of money being paid to agents and other intermediaries for transfer deals.
Asked if he favoured sanctions against PSG, Aulas said it was up to UEFA to decide and clubs needed to comply with the financial fair play regulations.
“There is an absolute need for regulation because today, the amount of money engaged is excessively important,” he said.
“It has been said that certain intermediaries, in particular, agents are being paid absolutely exorbitant sums of money. So there is a need to find solutions or intermediary clubs will die.
“So, before some approaches which are sometimes hard to understand from a competitive point of view, there is a need for regulation, and this is what UEFA is proposing to do.”
Qatari-owned PSG bought Neymar for 222 million euros in August, more than double the previous highest price paid for a player.
The club has also spent more than any other club in a single transfer window.
Reuters
