PSG to leave Parc des Princes after mayor refuses sale to club

Paris Saint-Germain will leave the Parc des Princes, their home ground since the club's formation in 1970, after the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, announced the city will not sale the stadium to the club.

PSG, who have already invested €85 million ($92.17m) in the last few years to improve the facilities and increase the capacity, are ready to commit another €500m into refurbishment and a bigger extension to allow the club to keep growing and competing with other top European clubs.

The two parties had been negotiating a deal for the sale of the Parc des Princes without finding an agreement. Now, she has closed a potential deal.

"We have a very clear position. The Parc des Princes is not for sale, and it will not be sold. This is a firm and definitive position. It is an exceptional heritage for Parisians," she told Le Parisien newspaper on Saturday.

A PSG spokesperson told ESPN: "It is surprising and disappointing to hear that the mayor of Paris is taking a position which, effectively, will force PSG, our fans and communities away from the Parc des Princes; while also -- quite remarkably -- adding tens of millions of Euros to the taxpayer burden to maintain the structure of the building, which is now 50 years old and in need of renovation."

However, Hidalgo, who has been unpopular in the opinion polls since her re-election in 2020, still wants to work with PSG to modernise the stadium. But the club are reluctant to invest large amounts of money on the Parc des Princes if they don't own the stadium.

"It is regrettable that the Mayor is now suddenly foreclosing -- definitively -- the sale discussions we've been having for a long time, with the club now sadly forced to advance alternative options for our home, which is not the outcome the Cclub or our fans were hoping for," the club added.