Former Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera has insisted they knew something was wrong about Manchester City when he was at the club.

As you will be more than aware right now, Manchester City were found guilty of all 115 charges put forward by the Premier League last month.

They have been accused of breaching the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-year period.

A Premier League investigation found the club had boosted their income by an amount of more than £900m.

In a bombshell announcement the Premier League concluded that an independent commission had found City guilty of arranging “sham contracts” with commercial partners to artificially inflate revenues and reduce costs.

Fallout

The fallout from the finding has been huge. Manchester City, for their part, continue to insist that they are innocent. They have already filed an appeal and insist that they have evidence to support their innocence.

Herrera, though, insists that everyone at Manchester United knew something was amiss over the period.

“Rules must be followed; what was happening wasn’t normal—we were all aware of it,” he said on El Camino de Mario.

“My friends couldn’t get tickets for Old Trafford, yet tickets for the Etihad were being given away for free.

“I have nothing to say against the players or the manager; they deserve credit for what they’ve accomplished. They’ve tainted everything. The damage is irreparable.”

Sanctions

Herrera was then asked about possible sanctions. At the moment, there is no indication of what extent of punishment that the Premier League will seek.

Various media and pundits have already made their claims, ranging from points deductions, relegations, removal of trophies and titles and even removing the ownership entirely.

The former Manchester United man believes that any potential sanction should be significant enough to set a precedent.

“The penalty needs to be substantial. It must set a precedent,” he added.

He then argued that other teams may have been disadvantaged in the race for the Champions League.

That’s a point which has already been made, with the likes of Everton and Tottenham identified as teams who may have missed out. Manchester United, meanwhile, are one of the sides who could claim for missed titles.

For now, he, like the rest of us, will be watching closely to see what happens next.