Author JeffEyesRimmer I wrote an article recently about the transfer and loan model that Chelsea are using. Another English club that are using an interesting kind of transfer model is Man City. The owners have gone down the path of purchasing clubs as part of the greater City Group and these are brand opportunities in large markets. The City Group now own Manchester City, New York FC, Melbourne City, Yokohama F. Marinos, Club Atletico Torque and finally Girona FC. These tie into the markets in all major footballing regions. I actually half expect them to purchase a club in Africa next too.
The other clubs are brand models for the City Group to expand the Manchester City brand as a whole, with the transfer between these clubs being minimal. The exception to these have been the likes of Aaron Mooy who moved from Melbourne City to Manchester City and then sent on loan to Huddersfield. That loan has become permanent, much to the benefit of both teams. The Terriers get a quality player and Man City make £10million. Other exceptions include David Villa and Frank Lampard joining clubs on loan within the City Group structure. Additionally the purchase of Club Atletico Torque in South America is looking at bringing through quality young players from that region. That club found Luis Suarez after all. However, it's the purchase of Girona in Spain thats the most interesting. They are not designed to be a brand opportunity in Spain, although there is some of that. Girona are a club designed to bring through youth talent for Manchester City and a place that current youth team players can be sent on loan to. Currently they have 5x Man City youth team players on their books. This is akin to Chelsea and Vitesse Arnhem but it is different as Chelsea do not own Vitesse. Apprently the fans of Girona are fine with the current arrangement. The team gets some of the best youth and reserve players from City. Additionally Man City get to blood players in a full league rather than in reserves or lower league. However, would they be fine with it if the team were barred from entering the Champions League or Europa League due to Man City being present in either of those competitions? At present the same owners of different clubs cant be in the same competition. It typically comes down to league position which team enters. Flip that around, what would happen if say Man City came 4th in the EPL and Girona somehow came 3rd in La Liga? Girona would qualify ahead of the parent company. Cant see the Man City fans being too pleased with that. It's an ethical debate on whether this sort of ownership is good for the game. Even more so that Peps brother is the manager of Girona as well. It smacks of nepotism to me. The other issue is that Man City have been found guilty of buying young players below the age limits allowed and have been in breach of the FIFA codes. They were fined £300k in 2016 for this and so Girona could be a way for them to help with this. How you may wonder? It's no secret that youth players from the Barcelona academy are poached quite often by EPL clubs, Bellerin being a recent example of a youth player being poached and then making it big. The current FIFA codes state that players of 16-18 can move if they are EU nationals etc.. but the crucial guideline is that they can join a club thats within 150km of the family then they can be signed up. Girona is 100km from Barcelona. Can you see where im going with this? The City Group have purchased Girona to not only send players to, not only as a brand opportunity but also to snap up potential recruits to the La Masia academy without the worry of being in breach of FIFA protocols. If those youth prospects turn out to be good, well they will likely be turning out for Man City in the future. Pretty smart guys, pretty smart. The policies of both Chelsea and Man City seem to working to great effect whatever the moral dilemma. Chelsea and Man City have contested the last 3x FA Youth Cups. This is just the next step for Man City. |
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June 2018
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