By After a deal was reached for Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital to purchase a sizeable part in Ligue 1 team Strasbourg, Chelsea will become the most recent Premier League team to lead a multi-club model.
In addition, the US-based owners are now anticipated to seek a deal to buy stock in a Portuguese team after Boehly earlier discussed creating “pathways for our young superstars to get on the Chelsea pitch.”
The agreement, which would see the owners of Chelsea buy a large portion of Strasbourg, is anticipated to be confirmed soon, but Ligue 1 supporters have already begun venting their complaints.
Strasbourg will be seen as a method for Chelsea to test out young players and, in certain cases, as a means for international players to accumulate enough points to go through The FA’s new governing body exemption criteria put in place when the UK left the EU.
Boehly said the new Chelsea owners “had talked about having a multi-club model” within four months of taking over the club to “show pathways for our young superstars to get on the Chelsea pitch while getting them real game time.”
After UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin stated in March that the organisation was considering a modification to the regulations that presently prohibit teams with the same majority owners from participating in the same competition, Chelsea increased their interest in pursuing a multi-club model.
“We’ve had five or six owners of clubs who want to buy another club,” Ceferin told The Overlap in March. “We have to see what to do. The options are that it stays like that or that we allow them to play in the same competition. I’m not sure yet.”
Marc Keller, the president of Strasbourg, revealed that the club held discussions with Chelsea in the early spring. Strasbourg is one of many French teams seeking investment. At the time, he told l’Equipe, “I’m seeing people, from Chelsea and elsewhere, but nothing is done as it is. “I, along with the other shareholders, feel a sense of responsibility and will exercise caution when evaluating the background of potential investors, regardless of their nationality.”
Chelsea has had attempts to acquire interests in Bordeaux and Sochaux previously refused, while an offer to buy a piece of Portimonense in Portugal has also been turned down. They have also researched the Portuguese team Rio Ave and may attempt to invest in a South American team after contacting Brazilian team Santos in the past.
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