Chelsea may have another go-to loan destination in the Eredivisie. PSV Eindhoven are exploring a feeder club relationship with Chelsea, among other Premier League clubs.
Like many clubs outside of the top few places in the five major league, PSV Eindhoven’s ambitions outstrip their resources to fulfill them. PSV finished third in the Eredivisie after two consecutive title-winning years. They dominate domestically, but had limited success in the Champions League or Europa League in the last decade.
PSV recognizes that they cannot compete with Chelsea, Manchester City, Bayern Munich and others on the transfer market. Those clubs’ lowball bid for a given player will often be more than PSV could afford. If PSV acquire and develop a young talent, they will not be able to retain him once those wealthy clubs tender bids for him.
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PSV’s CEO is weighing a partnership with one or more of these top clubs that would make PSV a feeder club for their young talent. PSV would sell their top talent to their larger, wealthier partner contingent on the player being loaned right back to PSV. This would give the player the opportunity to develop with regular playing time that he would not receive at the larger club. It would also allow PSV to retain his services without the potentially prohibitive burden of his wages.
"The Dutch League is quite attractive for developing top talent from 18 to 22 years… There are sometimes players we can not afford, but top clubs can. If a deal is possible, we must sign the player and see if there is more potential to benefit from a sale or to develop them. – translated from ED.nl"
PSV Eindhoven hosted Chelsea’s Marco van Ginkel for the last two seasons, scoring eight league goals in each. He was the club’s third-highest scorer in 2016/17 on significantly fewer minutes than the players ahead of him.
Chelsea already know the value of the Eredivisie for their development pipeline. Vitesse Arnhem have been “Chelsea B” for years, an almost requisite way station for young Blues’ march through the loan system. Vitesse hosted four Chelsea loanees this season, and won their first ever major trophy with the KNVB Cup.
Chelsea also loaned Bertrand Traore to Ajax this past season. He played in the Europa League finals and helped Ajax finished second in the Eredivisie.
PSV Eindhoven are showing solid ambition and creativity in their plans to partner with a larger club on a feeder program. Given the extent of Chelsea’s loan program and their existing relationships across the Eredivisie, the Blues have an edge over the other Premier League clubs.
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The Eredivisie is a much better loan destination than the lower divisions of English football. Chelsea should welcome any overtures PSV makes in this direction.