Controversial Chelsea agreement is now working incredibly well for both parties | OneFootball

The Chelsea takeover of Strasbourg was very controversial, especially amongst fans of the historic French club.

We can’t blame them – we’d hate to be in their position. But in terms of how the arrangement is working out for those who put it together, there’s no denying it’s a success.

Players all winners from sister club deal

Mike Penders with a Chelsea news logo. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

On the London is Blue podcast they discussed that, with presenter Nick Verlaney going into some detail on how it was working out:

“If you’re talking about [Mamadou] Sarr, [Kendry] Paez and [Mike] Penders to Strasbourg, they have an incredible opportunity to develop and play minutes in a campaign where they will also be in Europe this year,” Verlaney said.

“That is very, very good. That is the purpose of having a sister club. We took Andrey Santos back and he is now with us as he should be, but then we’ve also then given back: Ben Chilwell, he gets to go and play some football ahead of a World Cup year, and maybe get back into the England squad.”

Chelsea and Strasbourg both benefit from relationship

We think the relationship is working out really well for both parties right now, actually. Chelsea are getting really successful loans for their players and an outlet for long term squad players without anywhere else to go. Strasbourg have got a big cash injection – but have done incredibly well in spending it.

In fact, the only shame is that we’re letting any other teams at all in on the act – players like Habib Diarra (who went to Sunderland for big money) are such quality it’s a shame we can’t do anything to keep them at Strasbourg.

But the more success they have and the more money they’re able to make, the longer they’ll be able to hold onto players like that, benefitting them even more.