THE Chelsea and Strasbourg swap shop is very much open for business again.
The revolving doors between Stamford Bridge and Strasbourg have sent EIGHT players and one coach spinning between the sister clubs in the last six months alone.
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Some Strasbourg fans are more angry than ever about the relationship, despite the Ligue 1 club enjoying an impressive 2024/5.
But the bosses at BlueCo, the company which owns both teams, are using multi-club ownership to move people and money around effectively and, so far at least, with successful results.
In recent days, Chelsea have confirmed FIVE deals to take personnel across the Channel to north-east France.
Goalkeeper Mike Penders, 20, and attacking midfielder Kendry Paez, 18, went on loan to Strasbourg, with young left back Ishe Samuels-Smith joining the French club in a permanent £6.5m deal.
Blues Under-21 head coach Filipe Coelho has also left Chelsea to become Liam Rosenior’s assistant at the Ligue 1 club.
And today Chelsea confirmed that 19-year-old defender Mamadou Sarr – just signed from Strasbourg – has been sent on loan there too.
At the end of last season Djordje Petrovic and midfielder Andrey Santos returned to the Blues from loan spells at Strasbourg. Both were key members of the side that finished seventh in the French top flight and qualified for the Conference League.
Left back Caleb Wiley had half a season at Strasbourg but returned in January after getting injured and then went on loan to Waford.
Petrovic did well enough to catch the attention of Bournemouth who, after taking Kepa on loan from Stamford Bridge last season, paid £25m to sign the Serb permanently.
Santos’ performances in France have convinced Chelsea that he can be part of Enzo Maresca’s first-team squad for the coming season.
To replace Santos at Strasbourg, France Under-20 midfielder Mathis Amougou has arrived from Chelsea on a permanent deal.
That is the same Mathis Amougou who joined the Blues from St Etienne for £12.5m on an eight-year contract only in February. Amougou made his Premier League debut against Southampton, but was sold to Strasbourg barely five months after arriving in London.
Although Chelsea have a buy-back clause on Amougou, the swift flipping of the player and the sale of Samuels-Smith, who never played a first-team game for the Blues, have raised eyebrows.
The fees that Strasbourg have paid will certainly help balance the Stamford Bridge books after another summer of heavy spending.
Players can seem like pawns in a game which is as much about compliance with financial rules as on-field performance.
But it is Strasbourg’s sale of Sarr and his potential return on loan that have really annoyed a section of the French club’s fans.
As well as losing one of their key players after just one season at the club, supporters feel the £12m fee paid by Chelsea was suspiciously low. When you look at the cost of the Amougou deals, you can see their point.
Overall, the sense is that as soon as a player does well at Strasbourg, he will be moved to Chelsea to play in the first team or to be sold if he doesn’t make the grade.
Reports emerged last week that the Blues were close to agreeing personal terms with Strasbourg striker Emanuel Emegha, ahead of a proposed transfer to Stamford Bridge next summer.
You wonder whether any other clubs will be allowed to challenge Chelsea in the bidding for Emegha, who was the Ligue 1 club’s top scorer last season.
The Blues and Aston Villa have already been warned by Uefa that transfers between the two clubs will be closely monitored for fair value, after the shenanigans of summer 2024.
Uefa and the Premier League will take similar interest in deals between Chelsea and Strasbourg.
The Blues and Aston Villa have already been warned by Uefa that transfers between the two clubs will be closely monitored for fair value, after the shenanigans of summer 2024.
And Uefa and the Premier League will take similar interest in deals between Chelsea and Strasbourg.
Alexandre Hummel, spokesperson for the Strasbourg Supporters’ Club, said: “With the Sarr move, we are not being allowed to sell in a free market to the highest-bidding team.
“WIth that situation, with Penders and Petrovic, even with the coach who is coming, this is the way that a feeder team is run in US sport.
“Everything is done for the benefit of Chelsea.”
BlueCo – the consortium of US-based trio Clearlake Capital, Todd Boehly and Mark Walter, plus Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss – bought a controlling stake in Strasbourg in June 2023, a year after completing their takeover of Chelsea.
The French club was always going to be the junior partner in the set-up, just as happens in other multi-club ownership structures like the City Football Group which controls Manchester City and a portfolio of other clubs.
But Strasbourg have finished higher in the league in each season of BlueCo ownership and in 2025/6 will enjoy their first proper campaign of European football for 20 years.
So it’s tempting to ask: what’s the problem? Everyone’s a winner. And the majority of Strasbourg fans seem to feel that way, for now at least.
The multi-club ownership system is not part of the tradition of European football.
Alexandre Hummel
Hummel, 43, and a Strasbourg fan for 35 years, said: “I would say that 60 or 70% of people are either non-sensitive to the question or just happy to have good results on the pitch.
“But the organised supporters’ groups do not agree with the fact that Strasbourg is being used basically as a reserve team or an U23 team for Chelsea.
“It means our club is no longer independent and no matter what the sporting results on the field are, we feel very bad about that because we value independence.
“The multi-club ownership system is not part of the tradition of European football.
“We have a rich history between the local regional identity and the football club.
“That doesn’t fit with having your club being used as some kind of subsidiary to a big empire which is owned by private equity firms in the US.
“There’s a lot of arrogance in that. If it was us Europeans telling them how to run the NBA or the NFL, they would laugh at us.
“The French league could become a feeder league and French football would die because of that.”
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Strasbourg fans have held peaceful protests against BlueCo and the ultras refuse to sing for the first 15 minutes of every game.
On top of all the comings and goings between Stamford Bridge and the Stade de la Meinau, Strasbourg have also sold homegrown star midfielder to Sunderland for £30m this summer.
Some of those happy with the current situation could change their tune if results deteriorate after the core of last season’s successful team has been moved on.
But as Hummel admits, people from Strasbourg and the wider Alsace region are renowned for being calm and sensible.
The BlueCo bosses would have a much harder time if they tried to pull the same trick in Marseille or Naples.
And when the trick seems to be working so well, especially for Chelsea, they will keep on wheeling and dealing with Strasbourg.
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