The spending splurge sparked by Chelsea's monied new owners scarcely looks like slowing down. If anything, it has been cranked up a notch.
Two days after Christopher Nkunku became Chelsea's first signing of the summer, the Blues announced their second acquisition; Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace. With all of the world's ephemeral forwards stuffed into Cobham's narrow halls, the BlueCo consortium that purchased Chelsea in 2022 has started stockpiling entire clubs.
While the merits of Mykhailo Mudryk and Noni Madueke can be hard to decipher - particularly based on last season's showing - the benefits of buying a Ligue 1 club for £65m are somewhat more straightforward.
Here's everything you need to know about the start of a multi-club project with Chelsea at its epicentre.
Why have Chelsea bought Strasbourg?
Chelsea chairman and co-owner Todd Boehly has made little effort to hide his ambitions of expanding BlueCo's influence beyond the west London outfit. Following in the footsteps of the City Football Group and Red Bull's stable of teams, Chelsea's majority shareholders have essentially bought Strasbourg to be a feeder club.
"I think the challenge Chelsea has right now, or one of them, is that when you have 18, 19, and 20-year-old superstars, you can loan them out to other clubs, but you put their development in someone else’s hands," Boehly said last year.
"Our goal is to make sure we can show pathways for our young superstars to get on to the Chelsea pitch while getting them real game time. To me, the way to do that is through another club somewhere in a really competitive league in Europe."
Premier League rivals Brighton have employed a similar strategy with Belgian top-flight side Union Saint-Gilloise. Kaoru Mitoma was notably loaned by Brighton to their sister club before returning to the south coast and starring for the Seagulls.
Strasbourg finished 15th in Ligue 1 last season - the deal was held up by the risk of relegation - and have competed in France's top flight for each of the last six years. The club already boasts a good reputation for player development, moulding the likes of Youssouf Fofana and Mohamed Simakan in recent years.
Ligue 1's slogan 'The League of Talents' is not misplaced. The French top flight is a hotbed of exciting potential that Chelsea will have a direct line to in the form of Strasbourg. While the overall quality of the division is certainly lower than the Premier League, the physical demands are similar to the English top flight and represent less of a jump than its equivalents in Italy or Spain.
In fact, both Bernardo Silva and new Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino - two individuals with experience in both countries - have described Ligue 1 as 'more physical' than the Premier League.
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Why are Chelsea allowed to buy Strasbourg?
There are no restrictions against owning multiple clubs in different countries. However, current UEFA guidelines prohibit one entity from directly or indirectly controlling two clubs in the same competition.
In the short term, there is no danger of Chelsea or Strasbourg bumping into each other in a competitive setting. Neither club will be involved in continental football next season.
However, BlueCo cannot surely expect both sides to continue bouncing around mid-table despite their extravagant investment.
The good news for Chelsea's owners is that there have been signs of a softened stance from Europe's governing bodies. In March 2023, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin hinted at some wiggle room.
"We've had five or six owners of clubs who want to buy another club," he explained. "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."
On this edition of Son of Chelsea, part of the 90min podcast network, Daniel Childs reacts to the latest Chelsea transfer news, including Kai Havertz's move to Arsenal & Man Utd's interest in Mason Mount.
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This article was originally published on 90min as Why have Chelsea bought Strasbourg?.
