For Graham Potter, the task is clear and the goal is big. He's only two months into the job at Stamford Bridge but that hasn't stopped him getting a picture of how best to move forward at his new club.
When asked how Chelsea should go about closing the gap on Manchester City, he was in his pomp. "I would say it's lots of things in terms of aligning resources in a better way. How you recruit, how you develop the football idea, we need time in that regard with the changes that we've been through. So probably a little bit of stability, a little bit of clever recruitment to add and help the group we have, and then continuing to work on the football idea. Those I would say are the two main areas."
Easier said than done, but for Potter to openly make a criticism, in effect, of wastefulness at the club is quite something. Albeit most of this came under employers that are no longer present, but the principle is still there. Potter is about development and progress on a consistent basis rather than making huge jumps forward at the risk of longer-term instability.
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How best to go about all of this? Todd Boehly's first task has been isolating the cause of the issues themselves. He has stripped back the senior directors and executives at the club and is still in the process of hiring influential decision-makers to join the club.
The next stage that fans will see openly will be the transfers that are made. How best do Chelsea transition wisely from a club that has spent over £100m per year on attackers just to be in a similar position three years down the line? How does Potter assign the vast amounts of money available to him under Boehly?
Part of it will be making a more immediate overhaul of the first team squad still. Potter is working with players that still see their futures elsewhere and are expected to leave, but, to the credit of Chelsea, lots of clearing up work was done last summer.
Now for the upcoming windows, and Boehly is trying to streamline the club into an efficient model. Spending £70m on Wesley Fofana and £54m on Marc Cucurella might not scream efficiency, but addressing problem areas - other than the midfield - was key.
With January a prime spot for World Cup deals and getting ahead of the competition, Chelsea could use a genius trick to lower the price of their targets. Chief amongst them is Rafael Leao. The 23-year-old Portugal and AC Milan winger has an eye-watering £127m release clause but will be under pressure to sign a new deal with just over 18 months left on his current contract.
With Chelsea and Milan having already done business with each other in the past two windows and talks starting over moves for Hakim Ziyech, Christian Pulisic and Armando Broja, Boehly might be able to work a deal out between the sides.
TuttoMercatoWeb report that these three are all considerations for a player and cash deal that could happen as soon as January, after the World Cup. Chelsea already have a pre-agreement with Christopher Nkunku who may yet join earlier than next summer too, leaving room for players to also depart the club in the winter.
Pulisic is currently valued at £33m by Transfermarkt, whereas Ziyech and Broja combined for another £40.9m. This could help Boehly, who is a fan of using swaps or trade deals as is more common in American sports. If, using the basic math, Chelsea could knock off £73.9m from Leao's price then it would leave £53.1m left over to pay from the release clause.
The report does state that Manchester City themselves are one of the parties that could try to buy Leao in the coming windows, indicating that a true transfer battle could be on the cards as Chelsea try to emulate Pep Guardiola's long-term success.
With both Pulisic and Ziyech largely surplus to requirements over the past 12 months they may not be a huge loss for Potter, who is still evaluating his squad. Broja however was fought hard for over the summer and is highly valued by the club.
With Potter ultimately looking to find players he values and also add quality, moving away from a huge transfer fee for Leao is a bonus, but if it is at the cost of losing Broja then it could be less attractive.
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