Recent comments claiming clubs operating amid huge losses were "cheating" were widely taken as a criticism of the Premier League in particular.

Several other outbursts since he became the head of European football's governing body have led to him being labelled an Anglophobe, but the Frenchman is adamant that is not an accurate portrayal.

"I know what has been said about me, about being anti-English, but I don't know why," he told the Daily Mail.

"When I spoke about the debts of certain clubs, everybody said it was directed at the English clubs. But we have many problems in clubs across Europe - many clubs that have run up massive debts.

"Clubs like Steaua Bucharest and CSKA Moscow have already been punished because they don't have respect, because they don't have the money but they buy players.

"You can't have that, and in Germany and France it is already forbidden. But in England it is still allowed."