Chelsea’s owners bought Ligue 1 club Strasbourg last summer as the first part of the “BlueCo” group which looks set to slowly expand into a proper global network of Chelsea affiliated teams over the years.
So far, things have gone pretty well. The Alsatians had only come up to the top flight recently and were expected to struggle a little, but despite a wobble around Christmas, they recovered to finish mid table by the end of the season.
The players Chelsea sent on loan – Angelo Gabriel and Andrey Santos – did well there, and improved the first team, while BlueCo cash has also helped in signing really interesting young talents both last summer and this one.
A key element of that success has been picking the right coach, and snagging Patrick Vieira was a real coup in many ways. We’re not sure he would have been persuaded to drop down to that level without knowing that Strasbourg were very upwardly mobile thanks to the backing of their new owners.
Interest will only grow to match success
Chelsea are not used to having their people poached – we operate close to the top of the game, and there aren’t many clubs that players or managers will push to leave us for. But it’s a different story for Strasbourg. Right now, there are growing rumours that Vieira is in the frame for the USA international manager role.
He’s denied it: “United States? Oh no, my concentration is 100% in Alsace” the coach said in quotes picked up by DNA France. But the better job he does with us, the more these kind of links will continue.
The best thing we can do is keep investing in Strasbourg so that he feels the ceiling there is getting higher and higher, and that he doesn’t need to move on to find success.
