First Chelsea player targeted by RC Strasbourg after multi-club takeover agreement

David Datro Fofana could be the first player to make the move to France to join RC Strasbourg, who Chelsea’s owners agreed to acquire this week.

Fofana, 20, arrived from Norway side Molde in January for €12 million and has made four appearances for Chelsea in all competitions.

With the youngster limited of game time, he is set to depart on loan this summer and Galatasaray are interested in taking him on loan for the 2023/24 season, with reports suggesting a representative of the Turkish side will travel to London for talks.

Part of Chelsea’s plan for players’ development was to build their multi-club network, enabling them to be in control of developing the careers and having pathways for the youngsters, and that began on Thursday.

The consortium who bought Chelsea, BlueCo, reached an agreement to buy Ligue 1 side RC Strasbourg, and now Fofana could be the first player to make the move to the French club.

As reported by L’Equipe, via GFFN, Strasbourg have been monitoring Fofana and could potentially make a loan swoop for Fofana this summer.

This would be a loan deal which would work for all parties. Fofana would get regular football and experience in France’s top-flight, while Strasbourg see their attack strengthened and Chelsea have their youngsters developed.

Todd Boehly, Chelsea co-owner, admitted towards the end of 2022 that their goal was to regain control of players’ development and develop pathways for their young superstars.

Boehly said: “We’ve talked about a multi-club model, and I would love to build out the footprint. I think there are different countries where there are advantages to having a club. Red Bull does a really good job, they’ve got Leipzig and they have Salzburg — both of which are playing in the Champions League. They’ve figured out how to make that work.

“You have Man City, which has a big network of clubs. The challenge that Chelsea has right now is that when you have 18 to 20 year-old superstars, you can loan them out to other clubs but you put their development in someone else’s hands.

“Our goal is to make sure we can develop pathways for our Chelsea superstars to get onto the pitch while getting game-time. For me, the way to do that is to get another club in a very competitive league, maybe somewhere in Europe.”