Chelsea are using Strasbourg as a "farm team" -- is this the new blueprint for top clubs?

"Unfortunately, the league this club plays in has been broken by what's happened to European soccer over the past 30 years: the influx of sovereign wealth and foreign investment funds. This league, in particular, is a grotesque example of how unlimited amounts of money can really warp a competitive landscape that barely has any guardrails against brute-force spending. In this league, one juggernaut -- which is owned by the richest government in the world -- won the title in 11 of the previous 13 seasons."

"But there's no real sporting achievement for them -- no discovery of undervalued talent, nor a search for a new way to play the game that others weren't brave enough to try to find. No, they pay players around $202 million per year, which is nearly double the team with the second-highest payroll ($110 million), while no one else in the league is above $72 million."

The league has been transformed by massive sovereign-wealth and foreign investment, producing extreme payroll disparities where one state-owned club spent roughly $202 million annually and won 11 of 13 titles. Many other clubs have far lower budgets, with the second-highest payroll near $110 million and most below $72 million. A small club operates on a $38 million payroll yet ranks near the top in creating and conceding chances and remained within a few points of first place until a recent downturn. The small club employs a unique slow-paced, short-pass approach that still leads the league in goal-seeking urgency and chance creation.

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