BlueCo’s influence has been huge. Strasbourg have the youngest average age in Ligue 1 this season at 21.3 years.
After bottom-half finishes in three of their past four seasons since promotion from Ligue 2, they are dreaming of Europe under former Hull City boss Liam Rosenior.
But despite this being their strongest era in a generation, it hasn’t been worth what some supporters belief is a loss of identity.
“Strasbourg doesn’t exist from the sporting point of view. We are just Chelsea B team,” Strasbourg Supporters’ Club member Alexandre Hummel tells BBC Sport. “I don’t get why they would buy Strasbourg.
“Strasbourg is the only professional club in Alsace. There is a strong connection to the local identity, a mix of French and Germanic culture.
“In 2011, we went back to basics, we fought for our club and the Alsatian roots. It didn’t matter what league it was, there was a local, grassroots link with the club.
“It worked very well, we have beaten every attendance record in the fifth, fourth and third tiers. You would regularly see crowds of 10,000 or 20,000.”
An £11.9m deal to take defender Mamadou Sarr to Stamford Bridge has been agreed for July and Hummel says he expects such transfers to become a regular occurrence.
“It has been slow to emerge but for me it was clear from the beginning,” he adds. “They use Strasbourg so they can buy a player earlier than they would have otherwise and they pay a lower transfer fee.
“When BlueCo arrived, Keller was saying we’d be two different entities, with our own sporting policies. It has been clear for 18 months that this is not the case.”
Meanwhile, goalkeeper Djorde Petrovic and winger Andrey Santos – on loan from Chelsea – have become crucial members of Rosenior’s squad this season, with 20-year-old Brazilian Santos reaching nine goal involvements in 24 Ligue 1 games.
