Arsene Wenger believes that it is only right for Manchester City to be punished if it is proven that they have broken UEFA Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations.
The former Arsenal manager, who coined the term 'financial doping' to describe big-spending club owners in the early 2000s, was a critic of the City project when he was still managing.
Last week the reigning Premier League champions were slapped with a two-year ban from all UEFA competitions for FFP breaches and Wenger believes that they should accept the punishment if the charge is upheld.
"I was always for control of the financial rules and that the clubs work with the natural income that they have," said Wenger ahead of the Laureus World Sports Awards.
"They are what they are and you have to respect them.
"People who don't respect them and are caught by trying to get around the rules in more or less legal ways, have to be punished.
"If it is proven that this has been done on purpose, you cannot leave that unpunished."
The top brass at City have indicated their intention to appeal the ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport which could see the ban deferred for one season until the start of the 2021/22 season.
Wenger feels that there needs to be a little more clarity with regard to FFP sanctions.
"I don't know the rule exactly well enough to see what kind of punishment has to be made when rules are not respected," added Wenger when asked for his view on the length of the ban.
"They have not created that. It must be in the rulebook. Somebody has not said 'let's do that'. No, this is certainly the sanction that is planned if the clubs don't respect the rules."
Meanwhile City's CEO has reportedly told players that they have nothing to worry about.
Sky Sports News announced on Twitter that Ferran Soriano told them of his confidence that the club can overturn the decision.
“Trust me like I trust you, this will be dropped," he told the City players.
