Chelsea at risk of having transfers blocked | OneFootball

Strasbourg's unexpected rise up the Ligue 1 table could have a considerably negative impact on Chelsea given the sides are part of the same multi-club ownership model.

BlueCo, the consortium fronted by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, added Strasbourg to their portfolio of sporting investments in 2023. At the time of the purchase, the French side from Alsace were relegation battlers and had only finished in the top half of Ligue 1 twice in the 21st century.

However, Strasbourg have enjoyed a brilliant campaign, climbing up to the heady heights of fifth place thanks in part to the guidance of their English head coach Liam Rosenior and a shared relationship with Chelsea. Yet, the passage of players moving between the two clubs could get plugged if they both continue to succeed.

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin recently reiterated: "Clubs [in the same UEFA competition] are not allowed to transfer players between themselves or on loans, to establish commercial cooperation, or to share scouting databases."

Chelsea currently have goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic and Brazilian younster Andrey Santos on loan at Strasbourg this season. More pertinently, the Blues have reportedly agreed a deal to bring 19-year-old centre-back Mamadou Sarr to Stamford Bridge in the summer. Yet, according to UEFA's regulations, this transfer "will therefore not be possible if Strasbourg and Chelsea were to participate in the same European competition", as pointed out by Foot Mercato.

Manchester United suffered this very fate when they were blocked from buying Jean-Clair Todibo from Nice last summer given INEOS' involvement in both clubs which had each qualified for the Europa League.

Ligue 1's top three automatically qualify for the Champions League. Fourth place earns passage into the qualifying rounds of Europe's premier club competition while fifth is enough to reach the Europa League. Sixth place offers passage into the Conference League. With just 11 games of the campaign remaining, Strasbourg are one point adrift of Nice in fourth and three behind third-placed Marseille.

The Premier League's top five are on course to qualify for the Champions League next term. Chelsea currently sit fourth but are just five points above Bournemouth in tenth.

If both clubs qualify for the same UEFA competition and BlueCo fails to show that there is clear separation between the two entities, the side which finishes lower in the league table will be blocked from participating in that tournament.

That particular punishment should be avoidable - the likes of Manchester City and Manchester United have managed to soothe UEFA's concerns in recent seasons - but the prospect of having their transfers blocked could be detrimental for the Blues.

Shortly after BlueCo's takeover of Chelsea in 2022, Boehly bluntly outlined exactly why they would want to buy a feeder club. "I think the challenge Chelsea has right now, or one of them, is that when you have 18, 19, and 20-year-old superstars, you can loan them out to other clubs, but you put their development in someone else's hands," the US investor said.

"Our goal is to make sure we can show pathways for our young superstars to get on to the Chelsea pitch while getting them real game time. To me, the way to do that is through another club somewhere in a really competitive league in Europe."

Unfortunately for Chelsea, Strasbourg are proving to be a little too competitive.