One of the stated aims of this Chelsea ownership group is to create a Man City / Red Bull style group of clubs, and the acquisition of Strasbourg in the spring looks like it was just the start of that.
Ben Jacobs, writing in his exclusive column for Si Phillips’ Talk Chelsea Substack, had some interesting revelations about the whole thing.
He claims that despite everything going quiet for a while, next year will see further progress on this front in a really detailed section from him about our plans:
“Chelsea won’t just sign players in 2024. I also expect them to add to their multi-club model. Brazil is one priority region and they are still looking in Portugal and Belgium,” Jacobs wrote.
“Buying or investing in a club takes time. It’s not done at the same speed as a transfer. And a stability period is needed after BlueCo (Chelsea’s owners) bought almost 100% of Strasbourg. That’s why we’ve not seen a flurry of clubs added in 2023.
“The aim was always to start the multi-club model in the third quarter of 2023 and now that Chelsea have bolstered their senior leadership on both the football and brand side, they can start to plan for next year. I expect Laurence Stewart to be increasingly important in connecting the different clubs as the multi-club model grows.
“Behdad Eghbali has been heavily involved as well, and remains the most powerful individual figure at the club – as you’d expect from someone representing the majority owner – but Stewart is highly rated and respected, in and outside of Chelsea, and is key to the entire project – both on the Chelsea and multi-club side.”
We’re not sure how we feel about it all. It’s nice to have sister clubs to help player development and to give us teams to support abroad, but we do feel a little like we’re playing a part in the destruction of football tradition here too.
As for Laurence Stewart, it seems he’s got even more power than previously thought. Let’s hope he knows how to wield it.
