A few days after the leaks to the press, the news was confirmed on Thursday. The family of Bernard Arnault, the first fortune in France, has formalized the process of buying Paris FC (Ligue 2). Via the Agache family holding company, the Arnaults entered into “exclusive negotiations” to ultimately own more than 80% of the Parisian club. They have joined forces with Red Bull, future minority shareholder, to help them build a second major club in the French capital. A team that President Pierre Ferracci would hardly have dared to dream of, who explains to 20 Minutes why he considers this project solid and exciting.
Is it a relief that the sales process is official?
These are always long and somewhat complicated negotiations, both with existing shareholders and those arriving, so yes, it’s a relief. I was always convinced that we would get to the end, I was quite optimistic, afterward when it lasts a few months like it did, we are happy and relieved that it was successful. We breathe a little.
What is the origin of this rapprochement with the Arnault family? Is it coming from you or them?
I had quite a few solutions that I had sought out myself or which had come to me. At one point, to clarify all this, I mandated a bank to help me. I defined the criteria that seemed best to me, I particularly wanted a national solution, possibly a European one, not by closing off foreign investors, since there are some in the capital today and I thanks for supporting the development of the club, but because I think that is missing in French football. I don’t want 95% of clubs to be under foreign domination tomorrow. There are already two thirds of them.
What are the deep motivations of the Arnault family?
I don’t want to speak for them, but I believe there is a strategic dimension in the relationship between luxury and the performance of athletes, a clearly family approach and then another that could be described as social or societal. Given the powerful means at their disposal, they have the desire to make the most popular sport benefit from what they have built, to return to football the means that society has allowed them to bring together. There’s a bit of all that.
This teaming up between the Arnault family and Red Bull looks promising. Was it the best you could find?
Perfection is not of this world, but I think we are getting a little closer. Now it will take time. They know it, and that’s what also appeals to me about them. The strength of ambitions is not incompatible with the fact that we do not skip steps. We are in Ligue 2 today, we are not the equivalent of PSG. The road is long, and on this they share my point of view. And to return to the hitch, why is it powerful? First, there are the economic means. I’m not going to beat around the bush. Football has become very expensive. Ligue 1, today, is a part of the championship which plays for Europe every year, and another which tries to avoid going down to Ligue 2. If we want to exist and have European ambitions, the stake becomes very expensive. Because there is Qatar, Ineos, François Pinault, there are significant funds on the side of Lyon, McCourt at OM… And there, apart from the means of the Arnault family and its excellence, there are Red Bull’s know-how in recruiting, training, building a model. We saw it in Leipzig. Red Bull can be criticized for many things, but their competence is unanimously recognized in Formula 1, as in extreme sports or in football.
Specifically regarding Red Bull, what do you think of their strategy on the transfer market? We could see that their method had sometimes been criticized, for example during the time of Ibrahima Konaté at Sochaux…
They are first and foremost minority shareholders, and there to help the Arnault family build something excellent. Well, they also want to take advantage of the work they are going to do with us at Paris FC, to watch what is happening in the Paris region, and perhaps to benefit their club. But it won’t be dominant. Do you imagine the Arnault family, in a majority position, serving as a stepping stone?
I am in the jungle of Ligue 2, of amateur football. We all struggle to find good players, and no one is exempt from criticism. There is sometimes very keen competition. I spend my time with my staff protecting young players who are approached by many foreign and French clubs. And sometimes, with methods that could also be criticized. Red Bull rather has an image of great professionalism. Afterwards, when they recruit and they want to find someone, they put the resources into it.
Schematically, will the Paris FC model be focused on the detection, training and emergence of talent, or on the purchase of great talent directly?
Once again, I will let Antoine speak, he will be on the front line in this matter. But I believe that the two shareholders want to have a backbone that comes from the Ile-de-France region and that is trained by Paris FC. I always quote Arsène Wenger who told me “if you go into football, put the training in a regular fit”. The Ile-de-France basin is the best in the world, with that of Sao Paulo in Brazil. That’s good, we have Raï, and therefore a look at the two. We all dream of this spine, a bit like Masia and Barça. Afterwards, we are open to the world, there are great players who will come from elsewhere. It will be a mixture of the two.
You talk about a gradual path towards your ambitions. So we shouldn’t expect heavy investments from the first transfer window next summer?
We will see if we will be in Ligue 2 or Ligue 1, already. I am extremely cautious about this. It’s not because we are first on the 8th day that we will be first on the 34th. Having been a jump-off four times over the last six seasons, I know that the climb is not easy. There are examples, in the south or right near us, where we promised the Champions League very quickly, and we realize that it is more complicated than that. There is so much competition! To establish yourself permanently in Ligue 1, then in the first part of the table, and then after having European ambitions, it will take time. You have to accept that there are obstacles, that the ball hit the bar but went out instead of in.
What about the stadium issue, which remains a problem?
In the short term, there is unfortunately no great possibility of transforming Charléty in depth. I would have liked that to be the case, because it is a place that we like, but it is a stadium which does not conform to our ambitions, even in Ligue 2. It is not welcoming for supporters, it is not made for the increasingly numerous partners we need. So our objective is to try to find an agreement with Stade Français to share Jean-Bouin. Under the watchful eye, I hope, of the Paris town hall. We started talking, it won’t be easy, but if we could make it happen for next season, I would be delighted.
Is the proximity to the Parc des Princes bothersome in the long term?
I would have liked Jean-Bouin to be built in place of Charléty and that we were a little far away. Afterwards, Inter Milan and AC Milan, where Lazio Rome and AS Roma, share the same stadium, and the four clubs have very strong identities and sometimes very opposed to those of their immediate neighbor. So, even if we are right next to the Parc des Princes, there is no reason to confuse PSG and Paris FC. We still have a long, long way to go before we can dream of balanced confrontations.
Many PFC supporters are enthusiastic, but also a little worried about the club’s identity. What do you want to tell them?
Read the press release carefully. What I really like about it is that this question of identity is very strongly posed. And they want to take Paris FC, with all its values, all its identity, and give it the means to take them as high as possible. I think it’s perfectly compatible. Identity requires a strong brand, and for it to be attractive, significant means of creativity are also needed, not just economic ones. They are not going to make a new PSG, they are going to develop Paris FC and take it as high as possible. They know its fundamentals well, and in particular the relationship to training which is not the same as next door. We want to train so that the first team benefits.
Do you believe, deep down, in this second big club in Paris?
For 50 years, it has made everyone fantasize. I am in the process of building it. I think the Arnault and Red Bull families will give me the means to make this dream come true. Who will continue after me, since at the end of three years, when I bow out, I hope that the rest will be beautiful. I have the impression of putting Paris FC on a promising track with two powerful shareholders, with Antoine Arnault who will succeed me when the time comes and who is also passionate about this challenge. I believe more and more in this second Parisian club and in its ability to one day match the best, one day, by taking the time.
