Herrera insists Man City don't deserve their Premier League titles after rule breaches

Ander Herrera has declared that Manchester City do not deserve to retain their Premier League titles after an independent commission found the club guilty of breaching top-flight spending rules across nearly a decade. The former Manchester United midfielder went further, saying that even United — runners-up to City in 2018 — have no legitimate claim to those honours.

“I don’t know if we deserve the trophy, but for sure, they don’t deserve to win it,” Herrera said on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast. “If we want to respect the Premier League, if the Premier League want to keep being respected all around the world, they have to do something. They cannot be blind in this.”

City have launched an appeal against the commission’s findings and maintain they can prove their innocence. The case has shaken English football and is expected to drag well into next season, with the current City squad publicly backing the club’s hierarchy. Herrera, however, argued that any City player from the years in question should be furious with those who ran the club.

“If I was a Manchester City player, I would be angry with my owners,” he said. “I would be angry with my board, because they have put all that I have done during these years in doubt.”

Herrera spent five years at Old Trafford, winning four trophies and earning the club’s Player of the Year award in his third season. He has since returned to boyhood club Real Zaragoza.

Elsewhere in the interview, Herrera was unequivocal about the best midfielder he shared a pitch with during his career, naming former United teammate Paul Pogba above all others.

“He was the best, by far,” Herrera said. “He can hit the ball, win the ball, run with the ball, score, attack — he was faster than opponents, stronger. He had everything.”

Herrera admitted, however, that he has no clear answer as to why Pogba never fully delivered on his potential at United. “In football, I have been asked this question many times — why didn’t Pogba work at United? I have no idea,” he said.