According to reports, Todd Boehly of Chelsea and the owners of Arsenal and Liverpool have joined forces in an effort to build a “multi-club network” akin to the one Manchester City’s owners, City Football Group, established.
It happens only weeks after Chelsea’s co-controlling owner Boehly expressed his desire for a “multi-club mode” and is believed to have had preliminary talks with buying a Portuguese team earlier this month.
According to the Guardian, it currently seems that Liverpool’s John W Henry and Arsenal’s Stan Kroenke are considering the possibility of extending their portfolio of football clubs in the near future.
The City Football Group, founded in 2013 by City owner Sheikh Mansour, owns 11 soccer clubs globally. Their most recent addition came in July when they bought the majority of shares in Serie A team Palermo.
Chelsea, Liverpool, and Arsenal are now considering doing the same as Palermo, who joined City, New York City, Melbourne City, Yokohama F Marinos, Montevideo City Torque, Girona, Sichuan Jiuniu, Mumbai City, Lommel SK, and Troyes under the CFG brand.
It’s been reported that Kroenke, who already owns the MLS team Colorado Rapids and the NFL team LA Rams among other things, has looked into buying teams in Brazil, Belgium, and Portugal.
Fenway Sports Group, the company that owns the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins and baseball’s Boston Red Sox, is also aiming to diversify its holdings by adding football to its current portfolio.
While praising the Red Bull football group and CFG for being the forerunners of the concept, Boehly made it clear that he planned to launch a new multi-club network.
Boehly said at the Salt Conference earlier this month, “We’re going to be consistently expanding resources.” “A multi-club model has been discussed. I would dearly desire to extend the footprint. There are benefits to having a club in various countries.
They’ve worked out how to achieve it since Red Bull performs admirably at both Leipzig and Salzburg, two teams competing in the Champions League. Man City, which boasts a vast network of clubs, is one example.
“I think the difficulty that Chelsea has now, or one of them, is that when you have superstars who are 18 or 19 or 20 years old, you may lend them out to other teams, but you put their growth in someone else’s hands,” he continued.
“Our aim, in my opinion, is to make sure we can demonstrate avenues for our future superstars to enter the Chelsea field while giving them actual playing experience,” The best method, in my opinion, to accomplish that is by joining another club in.
Boehly is believed to have had preliminary negotiations with the club’s academy manager Neil Bath and well-known agency Jorge Mendes earlier this summer after having held discussions with a Portuguese club about obtaining a full stake.
The idea of buying a Portuguese club is thought to have been brought up during the discussions.
Such a strategy would allow the Stamford Bridge squad to transfer their most talented young players elsewhere to secure valuable first-team action while remaining under the Chelsea banner.
According to rumours, Bath has been attempting to determine which club would be the best fit for the squad to sign as a sister team.
Should Chelsea decide to formally approach a club, Mendes would be a good conduit to negotiate a deal thanks to his connections in Portugal.
As one of the strongest leagues outside of Europe’s recognised top five divisions, Boehly sees Portugal as a fantastic opportunity to increase Chelsea’s global presence.
