‘Master and servant’ – Chelsea-Strasbourg deal benefits Premier League more than Ligue 1 – Inside Europe

The ever-changing landscape of football has seen another intriguing development this week.

BlueCo, the consortium who purchased Premier League giants Chelsea last summer has sealed a deal to take a majority stake in French side Racing Strasbourg.

Marc Keller, the Ligue 1 club’s president, declared that the move was necessary for their continued development, with BlueCo committing to invest in the men’s and women’s first teams.

The two clubs falling under the same banner will not be dissimilar to the City Football Group, who own Manchester City as well as several other teams around the world – including another French side Troyes – and Red Bull, who have also created a global network of football teams.

However, it remains to be seen who actually benefits from the multi-club system, with understandable scepticism abound.

We spoke to our colleague Maxime Dupuis from Eurosport France to gauge whether this is actually a good deal for Strasbourg.

“The fans are, in France, not really happy with that [multi-club arrangement],” says Dupuis, citing supporters of Troyes and Lorient – the latter who are part-owned by Bournemouth majority shareholder Bill Foley.

“They feel like their team becomes an affiliate team, for development. And lower than the main one, which is at the top of the pyramid.”

‘If you are a development team, you cannot be on top’

Keller, who previously played for Strasbourg, as well as West Ham, became club president in 2012. The former midfielder helped steer a side that had plummeted down the leagues to the French fourth tier, back to the top flight in 2017.

The club also lifted the Coupe de la Ligue in 2019.

“We’ve built a club that’s healthy at every level and well managed,” Keller said after news of the purchase. “Although there was no financial urgency, we were aware that we had reached the ceiling of our model.

“If we wanted to continue driving Racing forward and projecting it into a new dimension, we necessarily needed to be accompanied by a solid structure capable of supporting our development and our ambition.”

Dupius is dubious as the whether the agreement will actually be of great benefit to Strasbourg in the long run.

“How can it be beneficial?” he asks. “If you are a development team, you cannot be on top, one day or another. Football has never been so elitist and rich clubs try to consolidate their dominance.

“It’s the only way, today, in the jungle of football without any limit, to be the strongest and to try to be stronger than the rules.”

France is a good ‘asset’

Dupuis also says there is both “concern and acceptance” that Strasbourg will simply end up being a feeder club for Chelsea and even a dumping ground for players who aren’t good enough for the Blues.

Under their previous ownership, there was an ongoing joke about the number of players Chelsea would farm out on loan in a given season, many of whom with little chance of breaking into the first team at Stamford Bridge.

If Strasbourg is simply going to be a haven to accommodate Chelsea’s cast-offs, while simultaneously moving their better players to England, Dupuis worries how this will reflect on Ligue 1 as a whole in relation to the Premier League going forwards.

“Master and servant?” he jokes. “I’m kidding. But, for me, Premier League is the strongest championship, the global one. The only global one. And France is a good asset [for English teams] because we have good players.”