PSG has asked the Île-de-France region to “reserve” land for the possible construction of a new stadium

Eager to own its stadium, PSG is coming up against the position of the Paris city hall. While the dialogue is at a standstill, Valérie Pécresse, president of the Île-de-France region, claims to have launched an appeal to cities to “find a site” and assures that she has received “several applications”.

The Paris Saint-Germain crest is affixed to the façade of the Parc des Princes. But for how much longer? Between the Paris city hall, owner of the premises, and PSG, tenant, the torch has been burning for several months now.

Whimsical at first glance, the hypothesis of a move of the club from the capital has gradually taken shape. And in view of the latest statements by Valérie Pécresse to BFM Paris Île-de-France, this possibility is truly being considered.

If the president of the Île-de-France region believes that “PSG’s place is at the Parc des Princes”, she assures that “the club [lui] requested, during the public inquiry, to reserve, in the development plan for Île-de-France, which authorises major infrastructures in Île-de-France, 50 hectares for a possible move of PSG outside of Paris”.

“If the club is driven out of Paris…”

The region “obviously” accepted the request of the club led by Nasser Al-Khelaïfi. “We said yes because we are not going to deprive our club of the infrastructure that is necessary for it,” supports Valérie Pécresse. And the elected official addresses a tackle to Anne Hidalgo: “If it (the club, editor’s note) is chased out of Paris, obviously, we will welcome it elsewhere, in Île-de-France.”

The mayor of the capital, precisely, declared on August 31 that she had not changed her position on this matter. “The stadium is not for sale. But we must be able to find an arrangement that can convince the club not to leave it,” said Anne Hidalgo in an interview with Ouest-France. “PSG’s place is in Paris, at the Parc des Princes. Outside the Parc des Princes, it would no longer be PSG…”

This opinion is in line with the request of the Paris Council. In February, the latter argued for a modernization of the Parc des Princes “within the framework of a package satisfying all parties but not involving its sale”.

An annual rent of 2.5 million euros

PSG, which has signed a lease with Paris City Hall that runs until 2044 for an annual rent of 2.5 million euros per year, has dismissed any prospect other than buying the stadium.

“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,” Nasser Al-Khelaïfi regretted at the beginning of the year.

From then on, the president of the Île-de-France region “made an appeal to all candidate cities to find a site”. “Indeed, there were several applications that were made to PSG, but it is up to PSG and the cities to make them public if they wish”, she considers.

Several possibilities have been mentioned in recent months, in Aulnay-sous-Bois and Gonesse, for example. Or even to the west of the capital, near Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines and Montigny-le-Bretonneux.