Unveiling the City Football Group: A Worldwide Model with Manchester at its Core
The Rise of Taty Castellanos: A Player Personifying the Global Football Model
In April, Girona striker Taty Castellanos achieved something that hadn’t been done in 76 years – he scored four goals against Real Madrid. This feat caught the attention of football fans worldwide, particularly in Manchester where it highlighted the global reach of City Football Group (CFG), the parent company of Premier League champions Manchester City.
CFG has 13 clubs under its umbrella spanning across Europe, South America, Asia, the United States and Australia. Castellanos has played for three of these clubs already in his career demonstrating CFG’s increasing influence on world football.
Castellanos’ impressive debut season in La Liga came after joining Girona on loan from New York City FC. He only managed to score three times before World Cup break but hit his stride as the season went on finishing among the top ten scorers with 13 goals behind global stars such as Robert Lewandowski, Karim Benzema and Antoine Griezmann.
“Scoring four times against Real Madrid was a great feeling,” said Castellanos. “When you are playing against one of the biggest clubs in the world, you aren’t thinking about scoring goals; you’re just focused on winning.”
His emergence in Spain shouldn’t come as a surprise to those at CFG who have been tracking him since he struggled to make an impact with senior teams back home in Chile six years ago.
A Journey With CFG
Since then, CFG signed him up and sent him first to Uruguayan outfit CA Torque which became their fifth club under their expanding empire before moving onto another club within their group- New York City FC where he won Golden Boot honours last year while helping the club win its first MLS Cup.
“Our scouts in South America identified Taty as a player of great potential. He was a young, dynamic, aggressive striker and one we thought for minimal investment could be quite interesting for several teams in our group,” said Brian Marwood, CFG global football managing director.”
Controlling Development
CFG’s multi-club set-up has helped them bring through talented players like Castellanos. “We have always found it quite interesting to sign some of these young talents,” added Marwood. “If you take them on a journey with one of your clubs, you can probably control their development on and off the pitch far greater than just farming them out on loan somewhere.”
The organisation was established back in 2013 when New York City FC were formed to compete in Major League Soccer. Last month Bahia became the 13th club to join CFG.
Each club has its own management team but central functions like scouting and recruitment are shared across clubs under CFG’s umbrella.
Conclusion
Taty Castellanos’ success is a testament to CFG’s ability to spot talent from different parts of the world and develop it under their global model. It remains to be seen where he will play next season but with his current form there is no doubt he will continue making headlines wherever he goes.