Last year, Todd Boehly and Chelsea bought close to a 100% stake in French club Strasbourg for a sum of around £65m, and the Blues have already been able to use the link between the two sides to their advantage.
They sent Angelo Gabriel to Ligue 1 on loan last summer, and in January, Andrey Santos joined him in Alsace after he was recalled from an unsuccessful temporary stint further down the Premier League with Nottingham Forest.
Boehly intends to build a multi-club network with Chelsea at the centre in the hope of developing new first-team pathways for young players. In addition to France, the Blues have looked at opportunities in Belgium, Portugal and South America, and it’s only a matter of time before they acquire another team.
Chelsea close in on Josh Marsh appointment
Now, according to Fabrizio Romano, Chelsea are closing in on a key appointment for their BlueCo group. Josh Marsh is set to join from Championship side Swansea as the new loans manager, with a deal described as “imminent”.
Marsh, who’s only 32, will look to strengthen the aforementioned connection with Strasbourg and the hope will be that he can oversee the movement of Chelsea players within an extensive multi-club network further down the line.
Marsh has already had dealings with Chelsea
Marsh started out as a scout at Wolves and Southampton before working his way up to a head of scouting role at Huddersfield. After four years with the Terriers, he left to join Swansea as their managing director of sport in 2022.
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As part of his role in south Wales, Marsh has overseen player recruitment, and there have been a number of notable success stories. To begin with permanent deals, centre-backs Harry Darling and Nathan Wood, signed from MK Dons and Middlesbrough respectively in the summer of 2022, have already played 62 games apiece, while left-back Josh Tymon has notched five assists in 29 games since his arrival from Stoke last year.
Crucially, the Swans also seem to have mastered the loan market during his tenure, certainly when it comes to incoming deals. Brighton’s Carl Rushworth has kept six clean sheets in his 32 games this season, Jamal Lowe has netted six times in his second stint at the club (on loan from Bournemouth) and Arsenal youngster Charlie Patino has notched seven direct goal contributions in 24 games. The club also did a bit of business with Chelsea last summer as they signed centre-back Bashir Humphreys, and they’ll be pleased to see he’s played 23 league matches so far.
Chelsea’s multi-club model remains very much in its infancy compared to say, the City Football Group, but Mauricio Pochettino will hope that Marsh can soon deliver a string of first-team-ready players who have garnered valuable experience elsewhere.
