PSG president threatens to leave Parc des Princes, "could build a new stadium"

In an interview published by L'Equipe on Saturday, PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi spoke about the possibility of PSG leaving its long-time stadium at the Parc des Princes in the French capital of Paris.

"If the town hall of Paris doesn't want to accept our offer, we leave."

That is what Al-Khelaifi said about the current state of affairs between PSG and the city of Paris shaky talks about what is next for the football club and their stadium, the Parc des Princes.

Al-Khelaifi touched on the deficit the club has experienced through the past two years, with that being one of the main reasons behind PSG's current position of trying to either acquire the Parc or build another stadium.

"Before COVID, we had made almost €50 million in profit in 2017-18. We had made €30 million in 2018-19," says Al-Khelaifi. "Afterwards, all the clubs were affected by the financial situation. We are too, more than anyone."

PSG threatened Paris with leaving Parc des Princes if an offer from the club to acquire Parc des Princes is not accepted

He might actually be right, and his reasons are both expected to hear about and obvious when everything is looked at from a wider angle. "We had a drop in TV rights with no games played for several months," he said. Perhaps more importantly for PSG and their economic health, there is something very true in the words of the Paris Saint-Germain president.

"There is another difference between us and clubs from the Premier League: the TV deal is higher in there than in the Ligue 1 by around three billion euros per season," Al-Khelaifi made public. "We are trying to rebuild," he said.

More worryingly, though, if nothing is done in terms of trying to build up new revenue streams (such as those that buying and expanding the stadium would create), then "the athletes are who would pay the price," said Al-Khelaifi referring to all teams and sports under the PSG umbrella.

"Acquiring 100 percent of the Parc des Princes should increase the revenue and the value of the club," stated Al-Khelaifi.

Asked about his relationship with the town hall, the president mocked the governors saying they claim "Nasser is playing with us!" before adding that he "is not playing" and that he "loves the Parc des Princes," that he "has always defended it," and that the stadium is "the heart of PSG."

"If they are reasonable, we will stay forever at the Parc des Princes," Al-Khelaifi made clear. "We're in a situation where that's no longer possible," he warned later.

Al-Khelaifi thinks "the technology isn't there" when it comes to the stadium status in the European landscape compared to those of other big clubs. "PSG don't have the stadium to reach the top financial and sporting levels the club should be at."

"We have wanted to buy the stadium for five years now," revealed Al-Khelaifi. "Each time, we were told it would happen after the mayoral election, then after the election of the President," Al-Khelaifi said upset. "We lost five years. We could have already built a new stadium."

Finally, asked if PSG should and/or would eventually leave the Parc des Princes, Al-Khelaifi said that "PSG have options," showing a wide smile.

"I can't tell you where, but we could build a new stadium in Paris," revealed Al-Khelaifi.