It is not the first time that Al-Khelaifi threatens to leave the Parc des Princes, although he has never been so blunt
The president of Paris Saint-Germain, Nasser Al-Khelaifiannounced this Thursday that the club will abandon the Parque de los Príncipes, tired of the refusal of the capital’s City Council to refuse to sell the historic stadium where the team plays.
“It’s over. We’re going to leave the Parc des Princes,” he said. Al-Khelaifi after the UEFA Congress held in Paris and in which he was re-elected as head of the European Club Association (ECA) and as a member of the UEFA Executive Committee.
Nasser Al-Khelaifi at PSG press conference Mohammed Badra/EPA-EFE
Two days after the mayor of Paris, the socialist Anne Hidalgo, managed to approve a motion inscribing the stadium in the city’s heritage, making it difficult to sell, Al-Khalaefi He raised his tone and declared the negotiations with the City Council broken.
“It is too easy to say now that the stadium is not for sale. We know what we want, we have wasted years wanting to buy the Parc des Princes. Now it’s over, we’re leaving,” said the Qatari president.
Speaking to France Info, Al-Khelaifi reproached Hidalgo for having made them waste “8 years”, since then, shortly after the purchase of the PSG for a Qatari fund, was not so opposed to the sale of the stadium.
“If the mayor had given that speech eight years earlier, the club would have already sought to leave the Parc des Princes,” he insisted.
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Club sources indicated that, from now on, they will stop working on any reform or remodeling project for the stadium, built in 1972 and with capacity for 45,000 spectators, which distances the PSG from other big European clubs.
They added that the project PSG It is for a century and not for the years that a mayor’s term lasts.
Since their arrival in Paris, the Qataris have sought to expand that capacity, at least up to 60,000 seats, but to invest in the Parc des Princes they made it a condition to be able to acquire the stadium, something to which Hidalgo was initially open, before changing to appear and show his most rigorous veto.
The City Council is in favor of Qatar paying for an expansion of the stadium located to the west of the city, but within a multi-year concession, like the current one, for which it pays 2 million euros annually until 2044.
The negotiations between both parties have been stormy and with numerous public statements made.
Related
It is not the first time that Al-Khelaifi He threatens to leave the Parc des Princes, although he has never been so blunt.
The club showed its intention to acquire the Stade de France, located outside Paris, in the neighboring town of Saint-Denis, in the north of the capital, with capacity for 80,000 spectators, but finally did not participate in the tender opened by the Government. Gallic.
The media have published in recent months that the PSG has explored land located on the outskirts of Paris to build a new stadium.