Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the president of PSG and chairman of Qatar Sports Investments, met Daniel Levy, the executive chairman of Tottenham Hotspur, last week in London; Spurs deny meeting took place
Tuesday 10 January 2023 14:55, UK
The Qatari owners of Paris Saint-Germain are looking at investing in a Premier League club.
Nasser Al-Khelaifi, who is the president of PSG and chairman of Qatar Sports Investments, met Daniel Levy, the executive chairman of Tottenham Hotspur, last week in a London hotel.
However, when contacted by Sky Sports News, Tottenham denied that a meeting took place.
Al-Khelaifi is also the president of the European Club Association and Levy is a member of its executive board.
QSI own PSG and a minority stake in Portuguese club Braga and they are determined to buy or invest in more clubs this year.
More than 300 clubs around the world are part of multi-club ownership groups but QSI's only interests are in PSG and Braga. That will change in 2023 which is set to be a year of ambitious strategic acquisitions for QSI.
Many observers assumed QSI would take less of an interest in football investments after the World Cup in Qatar, but exactly the opposite is likely to be the case.
The owners of Manchester United and Liverpool are known to be seeking investors or buyers for their clubs.
QSI are looking at football investment opportunities around the world.
Sky Sports News' chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol answers the key questions surrounding QSI potentially investing in the Premier League and what that may look like...
Why do the Qataris want to invest in PL?
They want to invest in the Premier League because they want to build on the success of the World Cup. They believe the World Cup they hosted in November and December was the most successful World Cup ever and they want to build on the success of the World Cup. They already own PSG and they own a 23 per cent stake in Portuguese stake in Portuguese club Braga but they want to own more clubs. We've been told that 2023 is going to be a year of ambitious, strategic acquisitions as far as football is concerned.
Why did the PSG president meet with Daniel Levy?
"The president of PSG who also runs QSI had a meeting with Daniel Levy, the executive chairman of Tottenham. Now in our story I think we were careful to say that the meeting wasn't necessarily about the Qataris investing in Spurs.
"Daniel Levy and Nasser Al-Khelaifi meet each other regularly because they are both involved in the European Club Association. Nasser is the chairman and since 2021 Daniel Levy has been an executive board member.
"So it is not out of the ordinary for those two men to meet each other. As far as Spurs are concerned the meeting between them was not about the Qataris investing in Spurs or acquiring a stake in Spurs.
"What we do know is that the Qataris are very interested in investing in a Premier League club. At the moment quite unusually some of the biggest clubs are not necessarily available for sale but available to be invested in if you have the money to do so."
Is it an option for the Qataris to invest in Liverpool and Man Utd?
"I think it is potentially an option. The Qataris when they bought PSG, I think it was about 12 years ago, and that was only for about £70m or £80m. It is now worth something between £3-4bn. It's a remarkable return.
"Those clubs are looking for investment. It would be complicated for them to buy United or Liverpool or even Spurs outright because it is difficult to own two major clubs.
"They wouldn't have to own the other clubs outright. When it comes to Qatar, never say never. People thought it would be impossible for them to win the rights to host a World Cup.
"People said it would be impossible for them to host the World Cup. People said they couldn't move it to the winter and they had to have it in the winter but they did. I think there could be ways around it if that is what they wanted to do."
