Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola, has claimed he would have dumped the club if they had lied to him over Financial Fair Play (FFP) allegations.

Guardiola has consistently defended the Premier League champions over accusations they broke FFP rules with illegal sponsorship deals funded by the club’s Abu Dhabi owners.

He has now revealed he threatened to walk away in a tense meeting with senior officials.

“Every single word I have said in all my conferences, even if people don’t believe it, every word I said I said was because I truly, truly believe it.

If I defend the people and the club it’s because I work with them” says the City boss. “When I asked about suspicions or if our people have done something, then I say to them, ‘tell me.’

“I said to them ‘if you lie to me, the day after I’m not here, I will be out and you will not be my friend any more.’ But I look at them and believe them 100 per cent from day one. So I defend the club because of that.

“When we put something (a sponsorship) on the shirt people say it’s overpaid. They say the money has come from the state and other places – but the money is correct. It might be higher, but it is correct. They have to handle that,” Guardiola said.