(Paris) “I want Kylian Mbappé to stay”, “the best club for him is Paris”, declared Tuesday the president of PSG Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, while the French striker, who will be at the end of his contract in June, has been free since January 1 to sign for another club for this summer.
“I’m not going to hide that I want Kylian to stay, the best player in the world is Kylian, and the best club for him is Paris,” the Qatari leader said on RMC.
“He is at the center, he has the best training center in the world (the new PSG Campus, Editor’s note), the best coach in the world (Luis Enrique),” he argued. “Every year he plays the Champions League for sure, at least we are in the 8th, quarter-final, even semi-final or final, we are there with the big clubs,” he insisted.
As the striker mentioned last Wednesday after the Champions Trophy, Nasser al-Khelaïfi stressed that Kylian Mbappé “has an agreement with (him)”.
But, he assured, the question of his departure or his extension “is not a question of money”.
To the media which began to relay rumors about Mbappé’s future, “NAK” asked for “tranquility”. “We have a lot of very important matches, I ask you to leave Kylian alone, leave him alone,” he said.
Nasser Al-Khelaïfi also promised that the duo formed by coach Luis Enrique, who arrived last summer, and sporting director Luis Campos would remain in place for the coming seasons: “I am very satisfied with the work of both of them, they are doing fantastic work. »
As for the Parc des Princes, which PSG would like to buy from the City of Paris to expand and modernize it, he reaffirmed his club’s position: “The Parc des Princes, he said, is the best stadium in the world, but the fans need bigger, closer to the pitch. »
“Honestly with the City, I want respect, we didn’t get it, it hurts a lot, because we did good things for the city,” he continued in reference to the bad relations in recent months with the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, who refused to sell the stadium.
The president of PSG also reacted virulently to the comments made by David Belliard, Anne Hidalgo’s environmentalist deputy responsible in particular for the transformation of public space, who declared last week on Sud Radio that “(he) does not want the sale of the Parc des Princes to Qatar”.
“Because we are Qatar, because we are Arabs? Legally he can’t say that,” “it’s serious,” snapped Nasser Al-Khelaïfi.
“I will oppose the sale of this Parisian heritage to private interests, whatever their nationality,” responded David Belliard in a reaction to AFP, believing that “calling me racist amounts to defamation, and ‘is not at the level of the stakes of this important debate’.
While PSG has given up applying for the purchase of the Stade de France, the first deputy Emmanuel Grégoire has proposed a resumption of dialogue on the future of the Park, raising the possibility of a sale or a very long lease duration.