The president of Paris Saint-Germain, Nasser al-Khelaïfi, announced that he wanted to leave the club’s historic Parisian grounds on February 8, due to the Paris town hall’s refusal to sell. The club would like to acquire the stadium to launch an expansion project and develop its economic model.
4 mins
This is a new ultimatum from Paris Saint-Germain. The club’s president, Nasser al-Khelaïfi, responded to the Paris Council’s refusal of any sale of the venue this Thursday, February 8: “ It’s too easy to say now that the stadium is no longer for sale. We know what we want, we wasted years trying to buy the Park. It’s over now, we want to move out of the Park », Launched the Qatari leader to journalists on the sidelines of the UEFA Congress in Paris.
A declaration which marks months of persistent tensions between the two camps in the face of the persistent blockage of the file. The dialogue even ended up completely breaking down between the club and the municipality. On January 10, al-Khelaïfi reaffirmed his position: “ Honestly with the city, I want respect, we didn’t get it, it hurts a lot because we did good things for the city “, he declared to RMC, in reference to the bad relations with the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo.
PSG wishes to buy the Parisian venue to take its economic model to the next level, following the example of several major European clubs which own their stadium. The Parisian club, engaged until the end of 2043 in a thirty-year long lease with the town hall, the current owner, considers the acquisition of the stadium essential to carry out its expansion project to 60,000 seats, compared to around 48,000 currently. . “ The Parc des Princes is the best stadium in the world, but fans need bigger, closer to the pitch », insisted the boss of PSG on RMC.
Categorical refusal from Paris town hall
The acquisition of a minority stake in PSG’s capital by the American fund Arctos Partners in December was even seen by the club as a way of providing new guarantees for the purchase of the Parc des Princes. But negotiations with the municipality have been at a standstill for more than a year and this announcement has changed nothing, the Parisian executive refusing any transfer of the stadium.
This position was reaffirmed on February 6 by the Council of Paris, which requested that the modernization of the sports venue “ is carried out as part of an arrangement satisfactory to all parties but not involving its transfer », a year after the PS councilor, Anne Hidalgo, closed the door to a sale. The park ” will not be sold “, she assured in January 2023. At the beginning of January 2024, the deputy mayors of Paris, Emmanuel Grégoire and Pierre Rabadan, had called on PSG to resume dialogue, saying they wanted to give it “ guarantees » on a very long-term rental.
Asked by AFP, Paris City Hall did not react immediately. The LR mayor of the 16th arrondissement, Jérémy Redler, declared that he regretted “ PSG’s decision to leave the Park, for the Park and for Paris. We had to open the dialogue and they closed it with the wish, it was a mistake “, he added about the decision of the Paris Council.
The Montigny-le-Bretonneux option
Faced with the intransigence of the municipality, PSG has already considered several avenues, including a takeover of the Stade de France, before withdrawing its candidacy. The club is now studying the option of building another stadium in the Paris region, notably in Montigny-le-Bretonneux in Yvelines, around thirty kilometers from Paris.
“ The option of a site near the Leisure Island (a water park, editor’s note) and the National Vélodrome is in fact a track which is being studied seriously and in a collaborative manner with the teams from PSG and the urban area. of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines and partners for a year », Said Mayor Lorrain Merckaert on January 13.
A meeting is planned at PSG this Thursday, February 8 afternoon on the subject according to a source close to the club, which now wants to stop all development and investment at the Parc des Princes.