In June, there were various English Premier League journalists and bloggers who wrote about teams in England needing to tap Chelsea’s young and potential-filled talent. The Blues have become well-known for their interest in buying talent up only to loan them out to other teams to give them seasoning.

But the real question is: Are Chelsea the masters of the loan market or simply cornering the market on young talent?

The club have done very well on acquiring young, hungry players to Stamford Bridge. In September 2016, it was reported the Blues had loaned out 38 players across Europe. Not all of which were young players needing to find match time and experience, however. Juan Cuadrado and Loic Remy were both sent out for loan-spells after having limited chances with the Blues’ first team.

The Critics

In England, 10 clubs in the English Football League had a Chelsea player on loan last season, and while many see this as a great way to give players playing time, there are opponents of the Chelsea loan model. Critics of Chelsea’s system see the team snatching up young talent with no prospect of ever seeing them through to the first team. Players are loaned until market value increases, only to sell the player off for a profit. It is the cliched buy low, sell high strategy. It is truly an investment in a player as stock, a modern Wall Street meets football way of making extra money to fuel fights for domestic and international trophies.

Despite its critics, the system is quite clever, and begs the question, why weren’t more teams doing this before?

Why does it make sense?

Chelsea’s use of the loan system enables the players that have been scouted from around the world to gain valuable playing time. The club’s academy has won several trophies over the last few years, but first team places have been hard to come by. The club’s relationships with teams across Europe allows these players to further their development, rather than playing training matches and reserve games where little is at stake.

Loans also allow Chelsea to remove players from their wage bill. Helping them keep the bottom line from dropping out from under themselves. One player that greatly benefited from the Chelsea loan system was goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. When the Belgian was signed in 2011, Petr Cech was already the established goalkeeper. Courtois was shipped to Atletico Madrid for three seasons, and became one of the best goalkeepers on the continent. Courtois, unlike other Chelsea loanees, was brought back in 2014 and has become indispensable.

The Farm Club

In the United States, professional baseball clubs have what are known as farm clubs. These minor league teams allow the pro clubs to develop players at various levels in competitive games, in the hope that one day they will make it to the “show”. Chelsea’s use of the loan market can be viewed as the same model, and the West London club’s relationship with Dutch team Vitesse is comparable to the American baseball model in some ways.

Vitesse were by no means threats to the top of Dutch football before their relationship with Chelsea began in 2010. Since then, the club’s fortunes have improved; and in 2016-17, Vitesse finished fifth with four Chelsea loan players in their ranks.

While Chelsea have continually got a bad rap for their relationship with Vitesse, perhaps none have been more scrutinised than the Udinese-Granada-Watford connection. All three clubs are owned by Italy’s Pozzo Family, and every season, players move from one club to the next as if they have been relocated to a business’s new headquarters. The teams work in unison to develop talented players before either moving them to another club or selling them. Manchester City are also in the affiliated club business, and have used their relationships with Major League Soccer’s New York City FC to give players a place to play. The Pozzo family and Manchester City’s part-ownership is a different model than the one Chelsea and Vitesse have; but the results are still the same, at least potentially.

Will others follow suit?

Chelsea’s relationship with Vitesse, and their use of the loan market makes perfect sense in 2017. Football is in an arms race and teams want as much young talent as possible. Chelsea Football Club are a business, and making money – along with winning trophies – is what the club were designed to do. Too many fans want to look at football romantically, but the truth is, every top-flight club are out to make a profit.

While Chelsea have led the way with their loan system in England, Juventus have done something similar in Italy. In 2015, Juventus loaned out 58 players. It may not be a tactic that football fans like, but both teams won their respective leagues last season; and both ranked in the top 10 of football’s richest clubs in 2017.

Chelsea have already loaned out three players in preparation for the 2017-18 season. None of which are bound for Vitesse, but each one – Danilo Pantic, Todd Kane and Tammy Abraham – have the opportunity to development further in top-flight football. Perhaps other top-flight clubs should follow the Chelsea model, but whether many can commit to the Blues’ long-term strategy remains to be seen.

 

Drew Farmer

Twitter @DrewMFarmer

Facebook @DrewFarmerFreelance