The escalation stops there.
Through the media, the tone was raised between the town hall of Paris and Paris Saint-Germain about the Parc des Princes, which the club wishes to own.
Anne Hidalgo had categorically refused to consider this option.
This Tuesday, Emmanuel Grégoire confirmed that the enclosure was not for sale during a press briefing organized at the Hôtel de Ville.
But faced with the threat brandished by Nasser Al-Khelaifi to leave the Park, the First Deputy Mayor of Paris played the appeasement card.
“We want them to stay.
They want to stay.
So we will find solutions, ”he said before explaining his optimism around the stadium expansion project.
“We want to find the financial means.
The idea is to find a calmer and more direct framework for negotiations.
We want to renew the dialogue.
It is an urgent matter.
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Supported by Pierre Rabadan, deputy in charge of Sports, Emmanuel Grégoire particularly welcomed the plan put in place by PSG.
"There is a very advanced project," he said.
What was presented to us is extremely attractive.
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“If we do it well, in 2028 or 2029 we will have a PSG match in the new Park”
If according to Grégoire, it will be "difficult to reach 60,000 seats", for a stadium with a current capacity of 48,000 seats, PSG is in charge of this part of the file.
While this expansion project has dragged on for more than seven years, Hidalgo's First Deputy has projected himself and spoken in dates.
“We know how to make long contracts.
We have proposals to make to reconcile all the parties.
Let's do everything to carry out this expansion project as soon as possible.
If we do it well, in 2028 or 2029 we will have a PSG match in the new Park.
»
To achieve its ends, the City will thus propose a new, longer public domain occupancy agreement which would take into account the club's investments in the works.
"We want them to stay. They want to stay. So we will find solutions."
Pierre Rabadan and Emmanuel Grégoire optimistic about keeping PSG in a renovated Parc des Princes "before the end of 2030".
#MairiedeParis pic.twitter.com/ko6ok2r6zT
— The Parisian |
PSG (@le_Parisien_PSG) January 17, 2023
The soap opera had been blown up at the end of November, when in an interview with Bloomberg, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi had assured that the club could leave the Parc des Princes, for lack of being able to become the owner of the Park and to carry out expansion work there.
The town hall had considered an affront to the offer of 40 million euros made by the Ile-de-France club to acquire the stadium.
In the columns of Le Parisien, Anne Hidalgo had put an end to the discussions this weekend: “Very clearly, the Parc des Princes is not for sale.
“Faced with this firmness, PSG had replied curtly via a club spokesperson.
“Everyone is a loser in the position taken by the mayor, had reacted the club of the capital.
Paris Saint-Germain are now forced to find alternative options to relocate the club, depriving Paris of a major investment for its attractiveness.
This is not the outcome the club, nor its supporters, were hoping for.
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Instead of inflaming relations between the two parties, it seems that this pressure has softened the town hall, now ready to move forward hand in hand with the Parisian team.
