Last week, City Football Group confirmed their purchase of Belgian second division side FK Lommel, which means there are now nine clubs under the ‘City’ banner.

In addition to the Belgian side, the Citizens’ holding company now owns Melbourne City, New York City, Montevideo City Torque, Mumbai City, Girona, Yokohama F-Marinos and Sichuan Jiuniu.

It is a very unique business model, with Red Bull the only other organisation to have followed the same principle with their ownership of 15 clubs around the world.

The purpose is quite clear: building a global presence. City now have clubs in Asia, Australia, Europe, North and South America and it could prove very fruitful down the line in terms of bringing through young players all over the world.

Will such a model begin to dominate the football landscape over the coming years with others following suit? We shall have to wait and see, but City are certainly way ahead of the game, in terms of their rivals in England.