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City Football Group's Purchase Of Girona Sparks Conflict Of Interest Questions

City Football Group, which owns Man City, last week purchased La Liga side Girona, a move that "combined a billionaire's swagger with an uneasy impression of keeping business in the family," according to David Conn of the London GUARDIAN. The unprecedented deal presents a "dizzying clutch of questions, the most glaring one concerning the partnership" with agent Pere Guardiola in the "joint 88% acquisition of another club." What attracted CFG to "go into business" with Man City Manager Pep Guardiola's brother and agent? Inquiries of the FA, which has "detailed regulations seeking to prevent agents, managers and clubs working incestuously together and having conflicts of interest, produces the answer that no rules have been broken." Pere Guardiola is a "registered intermediary (the new term for agent) with the English and Spanish FA." The FA said that Rule E4 "restricts agents from having an interest or influence only in an English club." This prohibition on a conflict of interest "does not apply to buying into an overseas club." CFG reportedly was "given this assurance by the FA" before it moved from its informal partnership with Pere Guardiola and Girona, in which several Man City players have been "loaned to the Spanish club over the past two years, to a formal deal." CFG CEO Ferran Soriano and Man City Dir of Football Txiki Begiristain "worked closely" with the Guardiola brothers during Barcelona's "glory years." The attractions for CFG are said to be that more of the players increasingly accumulated at Man City from young ages "can be loaned for polishing in La Liga, and that buying the club is an investment." The 88.6% stake in Girona, a "small club in a charming ground," is said to have cost €7M ($8.4M), which "looks like remarkable value." If CFG's aim is to "make money" from its stake increasing in value, then it is also helping Pere Guardiola "do the same." CIES Football Observatory Dir Raffaele Poli said, "The buying of Girona is a logical consequence of City’s group strategy and the concentration of wealth in European football. As with other partner clubs, Girona will allow City to develop players and make more of a profit out of them if they sell them -- only a few will ever play for Manchester City" (GUARDIAN, 8/29).

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