Chelsea today announced their long awaited purchase of a club to form part of a fledgling Manchester City style “football group.”
In the end it’s just 40% of a team – but it will still function in the same way.
We won’t go into too much detail on the players we might like to buy from our new sister club at a discount – we’re sure those rumours will be around soon enough.
We’re more interested in our opportunities to loan or sell players there. We heard yesterday that Charlie Webster was set for a move to the Eredivisie. Could he be more tempted by this somewhat riskier move?
What about Ethan Ampadu? After battling relegation in Serie A for two years, he might fancy a shot with an upwardly mobile Ligue 1 team. There are countless examples in similar situations. Instead of loaning players out until their contract runs low and we’re forced to sell at a discount, we can now sell them to Strasbourg with a reasonable buy back clause inserted. That allows them to flourish in the first team of a different club – but allows us to get them back should we ever want them.
There are even jokes featuring Romelu Lukaku in mocked up Strasbourg kits. He might be too valuable, but there are plenty of others one tier below who could well go in the next few years.