Arsenal and Liverpool ‘join Chelsea in hopes of imitating Man City and becoming multi-club networks’… with the trio’s American owners ‘eyeing Brazil, Portugal and Belgium to start expanding their football portfolio’
- Arsenal and Liverpool join Chelsea in seeking to establish multi-club network
- The model has been started by the owners of Manchester City, City Football Group
- Reports claim that Stan Kroenke and John W Henry want to expand their portfolio
- It comes weeks after Chelsea owner Todd Boehly revealed his desire to expand.
- City Football Group, formed by city owner Sheikh Mansour, owns 11 football clubs
Owners Arsenal and Liverpool have reportedly teamed up with Chelsea’s Todd Boehly to set up a “multi-club network” much like the one created by Manchester City’s owners, City Football Group.
It comes weeks after Chelsea co-owner Boehly revealed his desire to have a ‘multi-club modal’ and is believed to have had initial talks with buying a Portuguese team earlier this month.
It now appears that Arsenal’s Stan Kroenke and his Liverpool counterpart John W Henry are exploring the option of expanding their football club portfolio in the near future, according to The Guardian.
Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke (right) and Liverpool owner John W Henry (left) have reportedly teamed up with Chelsea in wanting to set up a ‘multi-club network’ like Manchester City’s.
It comes weeks after Chelsea owner Todd Boehly (pictured) revealed his desire to expand
City Football Group, which was formed in 2013 as City owner Sheikh Mansour, owns 11 football clubs around the world and its most recent addition came in July when it acquired a majority stake in Serie A side Palermo.
Palermo joined City, New York City, Melbourne City, Yokohama F Marinos, Montevideo City Torque, Girona, Sichuan Jiuniu, Mumbai City, Lommel SK and Troyes under the CFG banner and now Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal are looking to do the same.
Kroenke, who already owns the MLS team Colorado Rapids along with the NFL team LA Rams, among others, is said to have already considered buying clubs in Brazil, Belgium and Portugal.
Meanwhile, Liverpool owner Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Boston Red Sox baseball team and the Pittsburgh Penguins NHL team, is also looking to expand its portfolio into soccer.
Boehly made no secret of wanting to start a new multi-club network, praising Red Bull soccer group and CFG for pioneering the idea.
The City Football Group, led by Sheikh Mansour (right), owns 11 football clubs around the world.
“We’re going to continually add resources,” Boehly said at the Salt Conference earlier this month. “We have talked about having a multi-club model. I would love to continue building the imprint. There are different countries where there are advantages to having a club.
Red Bull does a very good job in Leipzig and Salzburg, both of which play in the Champions League, so they have figured out how to make that work. There is Man City, which has a great network of clubs.’
He added: “I think the challenge that Chelsea has now, or one of them, is that when you have superstars who are 18, 19, 20 years old, you can loan them out to other clubs, but you put their development in someone else’s hands.
“I think our aim is to make sure we can show pathways for our young superstars to get onto the Chelsea pitch while giving them real playing time.” For me, the way to do it is through another club somewhere in a really competitive league in Europe.”
Having held talks with a Portuguese club about acquiring a majority stake, Boehly He is understood to have had initial talks with the club’s academy manager Neil Bath and high-profile agent Jorge Mendes, who is Portuguese, earlier this summer.
During the talks the concept of buying a Portuguese club is believed to have been discussed.
Such a move would allow the Stamford Bridge club to send their most promising young talent to secure valuable first-team football, but continue under the Chelsea umbrella.
Boehly held initial discussions about buying a Portuguese club by Chelsea in the summer
Bath is understood to have been working to identify which club would be best suited for the club to recruit as a sister team.
Mendes’ connections in Portugal would make the intermediary a suitable conduit to facilitate a deal if Chelsea decide to make a formal rapprochement with a club.
Boehly believes Portugal represents a good opportunity to expand Chelsea’s global footprint given its position as one of the best outside of Europe’s five recognized divisions.
