The Parc des Princes “not for sale” and “will not be sold” at Paris Saint-Germain, who aspired to buy him for mayor of Paris, decides the mayor Anne Hidalgo in a meeting to the readers of the “Parisien” broadcast on Saturday January 14.
The Qatari owners of PSG have threatened to leave the historic grounds of the club if it is not ceded to them, a condition according to them for carrying out modernization and expansion work to the tune of 500 million euros.
“It is a firm and definitive position. It is an exceptional heritage of Parisians”adds the elected socialist while her team said so far to be open to dialogue, even if the sale was not her “priority option”.
The former PS presidential candidate did not mention the possibility of a departure from the club. “We must support PSG in its desire and need for renovation, increase in capacity, modernization of the Park”even though “part of the stadium is on the ring road, so you can’t dig”she says.
A “very low” offer
Inaugurated first in 1897 and then in 1972 with its new architecture, the former velodrome, whose capacity is now set at 48,000 seats, has been home to the Parisian club since 1974. The current emphyteutic lease, which entered into force in 2014, runs for thirty years.
At the end of November, the president of PSG Nasser Al-Khelaïfi had dug up the hatchet on this subject. “They are pressuring us to leave”had dropped the Qatari leader in a vitriolic interview against the municipality, recalling having “invested 80 million euros” – before Euro 2016 – in a stadium that “is not ours”.
The club did make a takeover offer, but “very low, very far from the estimate we had”said sports assistant Pierre Rabadan at the time.
“Cheaper than Paredes”
According to a source close to the Parisian club, the assessment carried out by the town planning services was “ten times higher than what we had as a price”.
According to the first deputy Emmanuel Grégoire quoted by “le Parisien”, the amount proposed by the PSG was 40 million euros. “It’s cheaper than Paredes”the Argentinian midfielder “bought 50 million euros”he had mocked, attracting the wrath of Nasser Al-Khelaïfi.
Since 2011, the club of planetary stars Leo Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Neymar has won eight French championships and six French Cups, in particular. But he failed to conquer the Champions League, his main objective, failing in the final in 2020.
