Platini claims no agenda

Since being elected in 2007, the former France captain has delivered a series of fundamental changes, with critics claiming some of those decisions are designed to weaken the English game, such as the Financial Fair Play regulations, which take effect next year and permit losses of up to 45m euros (£37.5m) over a two-year period.

Although the Premier League is arguably the biggest and most popular league in the world, Platini feels having so many foreign players and owners is damaging the identity of clubs.

But with the likes of French side Paris St Germain and Spanish outfit Malaga having recently enjoyed vast foreign investment, Platini insists over-spending is a Europe-wide concern and that the FFP rules are being implemented for the good of the game as a whole.

"The message I want to send is that this is not an English problem," he told the Daily Telegraph. "This is not a question of wanting to kill the clubs in England or anywhere else, it is to help the clubs.

"This is about 53 national associations and we take the decisions for everyone. When we take a decision, of course there is a big media in England and so it gets a lot of attention, but this is about many clubs, from all over Europe.

"We cannot say that you can spend more money than you bring in. It is just like the economy in Britain, in France, and in Italy, where the governments have to tighten their belts. We have to do the same in football.

Club identity

"Look, there are some things that I like, some things that I do not like - it is the same in France," Platini added. "Maybe it is because I am 56, and I played football in the 1970s and 1980s, but when we played, football was about identity of the club.

"Now the fans are the only identity, because the players, the coaches, the owners, they come and they go. I am not in favour of so many foreign owners.

"In Germany, they have a policy where clubs have to be 51 per cent German-owned. In Spain the owners are the fans, the socios. I like these systems. Perhaps the fans in England would like it too, but they have to buy the big clubs first."

If clubs fail to comply with the FFP rules, they face exclusion from European competitions, a sanction Platini insists UEFA will enforce.

"They know what we will do, so it is up to them," he said. "We will be very honest and tough with them. They know the risk."