Mikel Arteta has said that Arsenal must explore using a multi-club model as it is giving other top teams an advantage when wanting to sign talented teenagers from around the world.
Such networks have become fashionable as clubs can use them to buy youngsters at a lower cost early in their careers, provide them with a pathway to the first team and also circumvent regulations in this country. In a sense they are the modern, globalised version of the nuresey club.
Premier League and EFL clubs can sign foreign players only
after they turn 18 because of changes following Brexit, and there are also caps
on how many minutes children can spend travelling to academies.
Manchester City, Chelsea, Manchester United and Bournemouth
are among those who use satellite clubs. Arsenal have been considering following
suit in their conversations about appointing Edu’s successor as sporting
director. He resigned in November and will lead Nottingham Forest’s
multi-club group from about May.
“Looking ahead in the future is something basically to
explore, because obviously with the actual system it’s very difficult,” Arteta,
the Arsenal manager, said. “If the club wants my opinion, then I’m more than
happy to give that.”
Chelsea have bought teenagers, including from clubs in
Brazil, and loaned them to Strasbourg, who are part of the same ownership
group.
City’s parent group has 11 clubs in five continents and
Savinho became the first player to climb all the way to the top of the pyramid.
The winger was originally registered at Troyes and loaned to Girona, also in
the network, before joining City last summer.
Bournemouth’s owner, the Black Knight consortium, is set to
buy a team in Portugal, adding to those in Scotland, France, Australia and New
Zealand. Bill Foley, the group’s chairman, recently said about doing deals
within the structure: “We’re paying ourselves, I don’t know why everyone else
isn’t doing this.”
One reason why being part of a multi-club model is
beneficial for English sides searching for international talent is that their
sister clubs in other countries can recruit local players under the age of 18
to their academies. Then, once a player turns 18, they can be loaned or sold to
the English club.
Arteta left San Sebastián aged 15 in 1997 to join
Barcelona’s youth academy, where he lived in a dormitory alongside Andrés
Iniesta, Carles Puyol, Pepe Reina, Victor Valdés and Gabri. Thiago Motta later
joined them.
“We were 32 players and I think 29 of them made it to the
highest level,” Arteta said. “There is something special there, that is not a
coincidence. And they [Barcelona] have done it for decades now. A lot of the
things that are the most impactful in my opinion, we cannot do here. To
replicate that here is impossible.
Ironically, one of the early pioneers of the network model was Roland Duchatelet ar Charlton and Standard Liege and that all ended in tears. You can read about why his network failed here: https://retrocharlton.blogspot.com/2024/12/what-went-wrong-5.html
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