The announcement that a consortium led by a Qatari banker are bidding to buy Manchester United has raised questions about the potential impact for Paris Saint-Germain, who were taken over by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) more than a decade ago.
QSI, a subsidiary of the Qatar Investment Authority, the Gulf state’s sovereign wealth fund, gained control of the French club in 2011 for just 70 million euros ($74.7m at the current exchange rate).
PSG have since become a vehicle through which Qatar can project soft power — under QSI’s ownership, they are now not just France’s dominant club but a leading name on the European stage and a global brand.
More than 1.5 billion euros has been splashed on transfers over the last dozen years, including the two biggest fees in the history of the game for Neymar and Kylian Mbappe in 2017, although all that money has not yet delivered Champions League glory in which Qatar could bask.
But now the tiny, gas-rich state is aiming even higher with its sights set on United, the most successful club in the history of the most powerful league in the world, with commercial and broadcasting income far greater than what can be generated in the French top flight.
The bid, led by the chairman of the Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani, is believed to be worth between four and six billion euros, according to several sources.
The QIB is owned by Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund.
“When you have an offer from someone who is a member of the wider Al-Thani family, it inevitably means it is an offer from the state,” Jean-Baptiste Guegan, a lecturer and specialist in geopolitics in sport, told AFP.
“This means nothing has been done without the approval of the emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.”
However, there is no suggestion of the Qataris abandoning PSG in the short or medium term.
If the Qatari bid for Manchester United succeeds, “the plans for PSG would not change at all.
