IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th century, business was booming in Flanders. Diamonds and other precious stones found their way from Africa to the ports of Bruges and Antwerp, where expert cutters and polishers worked them and sold them on at a considerable profit to the leading European capitals. Not much has changed, except, rather than diamonds, Flanders is now home to a booming colonial-style footballer business. Nowhere is this more obvious or business-like than Beveren.

The Belgian first division side seems to exist for no other reason than to serve as a middle-man for African footballing talent. They make no secret of it and, in fact, are proud of the efficient system they have set up, which has resulted in a situation where 16 of their 21 first-team players hail from Ivory Coast. Most are very young and most will be sent home if they fail to find a buyer after a year or two. It’s a bit like those fancy pet stores where cats and dogs are showcased for a fixed period of time and then, if they go unsold, are dispatched back to whatever pound or shelter they came from.

The Beveren “system” has produced dividends for Jean-Marc Guillou, its architect, a close friend of Arsène Wenger and former manager of ASEC Abidjan, perennial Ivory Coast champions. A few years ago Guillou realised that, while more or less honest agents had been trying to bring African footballers to Europe for decades, there was no formalised structure in place. And such a structure could be immensely lucrative.

So he put together an investment syndicate called Goal and invested £1 million to take control of Beveren, who were close to bankruptcy. He also pumped money into academies back in Ivory Coast and began moving players across wholesale. In economic terms, you could say he is vertically integrated, like the Flemish diamond tycoons of old. He owns the “mines” that dig out the players, the “workshops” that polish and cut them into finished products and the “shops” that showcase them to the wealthy buyers. In the past six months, the set-up has yielded a cool £4 million from the sale of only three players: Gilles Yapi Yapo, the winger, to Nantes, Yaya Touré (Kolo’s younger brother), the midfield player, to Metalurg Donetsk and Emanuel Eboué, the defender, to Arsenal.

“Beveren were a club on the verge of dying,” Laurent Denuit, football correspondent for La Dernière Heure, said. “If Guillou hadn’t come, they would have died. He was looking for a European club to develop his business, a club where he could put his (African) players. Thus the scenario has been the same for the last few years. Beveren sell their best players and they are instantly replaced by new ones (from Ivory Coast). They are totally unknown but get the job done and then they are sold too. It’s remarkable in every sense of the word.”

Guillou dismisses the argument. “From time to time I hear people saying that the local players are left in the cold. The truth is that Beveren do not have the means to play a team of locals. In Belgium there is no protection for youth players. We could recruit a local kid, develop him and if he’s any good he will be lured to a big club and we’ll get nothing.

“Our club is far more ethical than others. All the players come from our academy and in that sense are home-grown. Other clubs have as many foreign players but they recruit them from all over the world.”

However, Beveren are now a revolving-door club, but it is a door through which only Guillou’s Ivory Coast men seem to pass. Denuit says that there is no sense of local identity left. Not just because of the foreigners on the pitch, but because the fans realise that none of them is likely to stick around. If they are good, they will be sold, if they are not, they will be sent back.

“White or black, who cares as long as the team wins?” Koen van Hal, Beveren’s merchandising director, said. “The results are good. We reached the Belgian Cup final last year and played in the Uefa Cup this year. And we’ve already sold five or six players.”

As for the players themselves, Guillou’s critics point out that Beveren make a killing because Ivory Coast players are cheap. “They get a minimum wage contract,” Denuit said. “In market terms, they are underpaid. An average Belgian player in the top flight earns seven or eight times as much. It is business.”

Guillou denies exploitation. “We pay them from €60,000 (£42,000) to €80,000 a season, which includes bonuses. Those who don’t succeed are released and become free agents.”

Indeed, it is tempting to paint a picture of exploitation. But it is equally true that those who make it become millionaires. And those who don’t still earn many times more than they would have back home. Hervé Penot, African football expert at L’Equipe, describes Guillou as an “idealist”, noting that Guillou’s academies back home offer an education as well.

The truth is probably in between. Guillou does offer youngsters a way out, but he is also a smart businessman who has become rich in the process. This does not mean, however, that it is a win-win situation. Beveren have become a cattle market masquerading as a football club, with no pretence of national, much less local, links. And clubs in Ivory Coast have suffered as well. They can’t compete with Guillou and lose players to him who might be worth millions. Yet in business terms, the arrangement makes sense both for Guillou and for his footballers.

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