Pep Guardiola vowed to talk about Manchester City's Premier League charges when they learn their verdict in the coming weeks - but he emphatically refused to engage in the latest allegations over City's financial dealings by long-standing critic Javier Tebas.
La Liga president Tebas created headlines on Thursday as he told the FT Business of Football Summit that he had reported City to the European Commission in 2023 for alleged breaches of financial rules through 'extra companies' within their ownership structure.
City have not commented on Tebas' latest tirade against the club which follows frequent criticisms over the years and support for action against them by UEFA and the Premier League.
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Tebas said: "City have a lot of companies in their group which lie outside the City Football Group structure, extra companies where they put their expenses.
"These other companies lose the money but not the club itself. We have reported Manchester City to the EU. We have the facts and figures.
"We asked for City to be checked. It's very important that all clubs are subject to the same transparency rules and governance on both the sporting and financial side.
"The City case is one where we believe they have put the losses on the companies that are not officially part of City Football Group. "City have costs that are less than if they didn't have this circle of companies around."
Guardiola has hit back at Tebas in the past but made his feelings perfectly clear this week with just one word. When the topic was raised in his press conference ahead of the FA Cup clash with Plymouth, he simply replied 'next'.
As the question continued, he twice repeated 'next, next', clearly intent on not adding any fuel to the fire - while still making his disapproval perfectly clear.
But when asked why City are so often a target, Guardiola looked ahead to a verdict in the Premier League charges case which is expected in Spring.
"I don't know," he replied. "It happened in the past for UEFA and now in a few weeks for the Premier League [we will get] the sentence. We wait and after we talk."
Premier League CEO Richard Masters confirmed this week that a decision is imminent after the independent panel heard evidence late last year and Guardiola appears willing to offer his opinion when that ruling eventually lands.
