Press Review

Exclusive interview with Nasser Al-Khelaifi

BFMTV / RMC Sport ran the exclusive interview granted by Nasser Al-Khelaïfi across all their platforms, discussing the club's development strategy.
This was an opportunity for the President of Paris Saint-Germain to talk about the growth of the club, 5th in the latest Deloitte ranking of the world's richest clubs and second richest European champion in the world by the audit firm KPMG.

"This exceptional growth is the result of constant hard work and collective determination. As soon as we acquired the club, we put in place a strategy to significantly increase all sources of revenue. We have succeeded in making Paris Saint-Germain an extremely attractive, avant-garde global brand that is looks after its fans. This is what has enabled us to sign the largest sponsorship contracts in the club's history with Nike and Accor and a total of 14 new partners in 2019," explained the chairman and CEO, stating that the objective is "to maintain sustained growth" and continue to grow the Paris brand throughout the world. 

"More than 13,000 children play with the Paris Saint-Germain jersey through our PSG Academy network. And more than 80 million fans follow us on social networks," he added, calmly displaying "great confidence" on the issue of financial fair play.

The interview was picked up by sports daily L'Equipe on Thursday morning, focusing on Al-Khelaifi's view of a European Super League:

"Paris Saint-Germain has already generated much of its revenue and we don't need a closed European super league to continue our work. We still have a lot of possibilities to increase revenue and strengthen the club's influence in the world," he says in L'Equipe, who also explain that the chairman intends to "make up part of the gap to the main European rivals" by increasing future revenues generated by TV rights.

Le Figaro also ran a headline on the Parisian chairman's views on the Super League: "Paris' recent financial results have delighted President Al-Khelaïfi," the media outlet said, referring to "a job that allows the French champions to tackle the sensitive issue of financial fair play with optimism."

A fine win in Monaco

In today's edition, Le Parisien looks back at the performance of Thomas Tuchel's men in the principality under the headline: "The champions' response". "Three days after the most spectacular draw of the season between the same two teams (3-3), Paris Saint-Germain proved much more clinical and controlled last night on the pitch of AS Monaco. They coolly dissected their opponents to win 4-1 thanks to their stars Mbappé and Neymar, who combined as well as ever."

The performance received plenty of praised, citing in particular "a much better control of the game by Tuchel's men, whose symbol is named Di Maria", describing a team "more consistent offensively". It was a victory that also allowed the league leaders to get "back on track, eight points clear of OM".

The daily 20 Minutes drew the same conclusion, headlining on the pun: "Paris has reigns over the principality". "Paris Saint-Germain ended up imposing its game and suffocated Monaco, leaving ASM with very little ammunition. The Parisian defence was more consistent and more united than on Sunday," said 20 Minutes, who judged that "the test was globally successful" for Thomas Tuchel.

L'Equipe draws the same conclusion, with its front page headline on "fine-tuning", and then headlines on the inside pages with the superlative "Princes". "With a high block, discpline in defence and attacking inspiration, the Parisians dispelled the doubts that its 4-4-2 had raised on Sunday," said the sports daily, which also mentions individual performances, adding that "the players were able to correct the errors by better orchestrating their pressing and showing concentration at all times." 

Finally, AFP also praised the qualities of Kylian Mbappé: "Lively, inspired, willing, involved and capable of making defensive efforts," the agency said. "Serene and happy at the end of the match, he can have a justified sense of accomplishment."