The President of Paris Saint-Germain, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, has responded strongly to recent comments made over the city’s refusal to sell the Parc des Princes to the club, in a radio interview with Rothen S’Enflamme.
The city has currently refused to entertain offers from the club regarding the sale of the famous stadium to its current occupants. In a move, that has frustrated Les Parisiens’ plans to renovate the stadium and increase its capacity, and has caused the team to threaten to move from their historic home.
The club do not wish to invest any further in an arena that they do not own, having cited that they have already paid €85 million to maintain the Parc des Princes. However, the city sees no reason to sell ‘an exceptional heritage for Parisians.’ Especially, at the price offered, a reported €38 million.
They believe that the stadium is currently fit for purpose, but if PSG feels like the stadium needs to be renovated to fit their desires for expansion, then they are more than welcome to finance the transformation.
The Parc des Princes impasse deepens
This deadlock between the two parties has only increased in tension following recent comments made by David Beillard, the deputy mayor for the transformation of public space and mobility. In comments, made to Sud Radio, the deputy mayor stated that it would ‘pose a problem for me if Paris sold the Parc des Princes to Qatar. I will oppose any sale… it is up to PSG to do the work. They have sufficient resources.’
This has angered the president of PSG, who responded today on Rothen S’Enflamme, ‘He doesn’t want us to purchase the stadium because we’re Qatari, it’s just because we’re Qatari, we’re Arabs.’ Al-Khelaïfi went on to question the legality of Beillard’s statement, suggesting that it was to be considered a ‘serious’ issue, and that ‘I don’t know if it’s legal to say that.’
GFFN | Nick Hartland
