FIFA president Sepp Blatter's hypocrisy was again exposed in his latest attack on the popularity of the Premiership.

Blatter called Real Madrid's eye-watering £80million deal for Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo "good for football", but has once again hit out at the Premier League's spending power.

Madrid have already sanctioned spending of almost £150m this summer - a figure which will almost certainly rise - with a spree supported by huge bank loans.

Yet it is the way clubs operate in England that has the Swiss football chief angry.

"There are big associations, like France, Germany and Spain where there is a by-law that the owners of the club must be at least 51 per cent from the club," said Blatter. "They must be members of the club or partners from the same country.

"This does not exist in the Premier League and it is a problem we have to address."

Blatter was reacting to Manchester City's massive bid for Barcelona ace Samuel Eto'o.

Yet, the comments are in contrast to the way Blatter greeted news that Manchester United had accepted Madrid's world-record bid for Ronaldo.

At the time, Blatter said: "Cristiano Ronaldo's signing is good for football. It shows the market of the sport is healthy despite the world financial crisis.

"This means our product is still good. This is the people's sport and they need stars. The transfer will cost a lot of money, but it shows that there is still demand for a football star.

"We should be allowed to be generous about this. This market is very sensitive because there is a financial crisis, but the football market is still a good one."