Omari Kellyman moves from Chelsea to Strasbourg in another deal between clubs under the same owner

Another name on the list, another deal between the same two clubs. Chelsea and Strasbourg have done business again, and this time the player at the center of it is Omari Kellyman, a 20-year-old midfielder who is moving to the French club in a permanent transfer.

If it sounds strange that two clubs would trade so many players back and forth, the explanation is simple: they belong to the same owner. Both are part of BlueCo, the US consortium that bought Chelsea in 2022 for £2.5 billion (about $3.2 billion) and then picked up Strasbourg a year later, in 2023. Ever since, the traffic of players between London and Alsace has become almost routine.

Kellyman is, in fact, the third player to leave Chelsea for Strasbourg in this summer window alone. Before him, goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen and defender Genesis Antwi already made the switch, both on loan. The midfielder, who spent last season at Cardiff City in England's third tier, arrives in France with a notable detail attached: Chelsea has kept a buyback option on him, so this isn't necessarily a permanent goodbye.

Traffic in both directions

The player flow doesn't run in just one direction. Chelsea has also picked up talent from Strasbourg: Argentine Valentin Barco and forward Emanuel Emegha arrived at Stamford Bridge for a combined fee of $75 million. And there's another chapter to this story: three players who were on loan at Strasbourg last season, goalkeeper Mike Penders, defender Aaron Anselmino and forward David Datro Fofana, returned to Chelsea this summer.

Add it all up, and according to data from The Athletic, 14 players have now moved between the two clubs since BlueCo took control of both. It's a figure that shows just how normalized this sort of footballing connecting vessel between England and France has become.

Not everything is good news for the French club, though. Strasbourg is under scrutiny from UEFA, which has asked the club to "significantly reduce" its player spending heading into 2026. In June, European soccer's governing body hit Strasbourg with a fine of 13 million euros (about $15 million) for excessive spending, the largest penalty it handed out to any club last season. Against that backdrop, it's no surprise that deals like Kellyman's, which involve no cash changing hands, keep piling up between these two clubs joined at the ownership level.