Multi-club ownership: Chelsea taking Liam Rosenior from Strasbourg lays out flaws in the model

Half of the Premier League is now in a form of multiple club ownership (MCO). But these clubs are at the top of the food chain and will not have the necessary experience because they are the poorest club.

The City Football Group includes parent club Manchester City, and has full control over teams in Italy, France, Brazil, Australia, Uruguay and Belgium. It also owns 47% of the city of Girona in Spain.

Red Bull is the majority owner of teams in Germany, Austria, the United States and Brazil, with minority stakes in other clubs, including Leeds United.

These are the major football operations, the MCO giants. Players and managers will move between entities. It is like an employee getting a promotion through a multinational company.

For example, coach Jesse Marsch moved from New York Red Bulls to Salzburg and then to Leipzig. But never in the middle of the season.

Other MCOs were created to exchange ideas and enjoyed relative growth, such as Tony Bloom’s interest in Brighton, Union Saint-Gilloise, Hearts and Melbourne Victory.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe owns Ineos 100% of Nice and Swiss club FC Lausanne-Sport, but only 28.94% of Manchester United. But his decisive influence on football operations at Old Trafford was enough to prompt one of UEFA’s signals for an MCO.

Kieran Maguire, a football financial expert, told BBC Sport that Chelsea and Strasbourg MCO are “unique”.

While most MCOs tend to focus on football, he added that BlueCo is more of a strategy for hedge funds. This means bringing in low value assets and selling them at high returns.

“Strasbourg is perhaps a bit further away in the sense that it is seen as a holding area for talent that Chelsea might want to bring to the club at a later date,” Maguire said.

“You could say that’s the case with Rosenior, to get experience in another part of the Chelsea empire.

“BlueCo is targeting younger players, putting them on long-term contracts. Players are performing well and player value is being determined.”

Strasbourg has the smallest team in the five major European leagues, while Chelsea ranks fourth.