If Chelsea are to do lots of business in January they may have to be streetwise in their approach. Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital have already spent over £250m on transfers in a summer spree - of which none of the new signings are yet to hit it off at Stamford Bridge - and the new owners can't afford more of the same mistakes.
Although it is too soon to judge the real success of Marc Cucurella, 24, Wesley Fofana, 21, Carney Chukwuemeka and Cesare Casadei, both 19, along with Gabriel Slonina, 18, the expectation was for Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibably to have bigger impacts straight away.
This is yet to truly happen, with a number of factors to explain this, but it still doesn't change Boehly's bottom line. The new owners have to overturn the blase transfer strategy that saw Roman Abramovich spend over £300m on attackers in four years with none of them coming off in the mean time.
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However, for Boehly to get the squad into a position whereby Graham Potter can compete at the desired level, an overhaul is needed with depth needed at right-back, central midfield and on the wings. The striker position isn't one that looks entirely convincing currently either.
In an attempt to get ahead of the market, Boehly's willingness to keep spending has seen the club reach a pre-agreement with RB Leipzig for Christopher Nkunku. The Blues were trying to get the deal over the line early and had hoped to bring him in during the January window, but his injury on the eve of the World Cup puts this in doubt.
If the £52.8m deal - his release clause - isn't completed in the winter then other options may well be looked at, and Spanish publication AS write that Barcelona's Memphis Depay is seen as an alternative. The Dutch international is another player who will be in the shop window during Qatar 2022 and his future may well hinge on performances in the tournament.
Depay has played just 116 minutes of league action after suffering an early season injury but his record of 42 goals in 81 international games is exceptional and demonstrates the ability that can be unleashed. Having only joined the Catalan giants last summer though, he hasn't lit the world on fire and is set to be allowed to leave as he enters the last six months of his deal.
Depay overcame the doubts placed on him following a poor time at Manchester United as he impressed for Lyon and as he is able to negotiate a free deal in January ahead of the summer, Chelsea are one of the clubs monitoring his situation and may well be watching Louis van Gaal's team with interest.
The Blues reportedly looked at a late summer move to bring in the attacker but failed with their attempts, but that might not put Boehly off as Depay could join for nothing in seven months time, or a small price in January could prize him free.
With Barcelona's continuing financial turmoil, Chelsea could be tempted with a smart piece of business. Depay is on £159,000 per week according to SalarySport, if the Blues decided to pay Barcelona a fee of his wages until June 30 then it would cost them just £4.1m.
If this is a deal that can be sorted then it may well allow for other, more expensive, transfers to also go through in January.
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