The end of January is near and Chelsea's opportunities to make a late move are diminishing.
The Blues have brought Kenedy back to the club from his loan with Flamengo, and redeployed loan stars like Jamie Cumming and Juan Castillo to MK Dons and Charlton Athletic respectively this month.
It's easy to see where Chelsea would have hoped to strengthen during the window with both Ben Chilwell and Reece James out of action. The former will miss the rest of the season, while it is hoped James could make his return in early February.
That left Marcos Alonso has the only fit wing-back in the squad and frustrations that club did not move earlier to plug a gap are understandable.
While Thomas Tuchel's side has been linked to Lucas Digne and Sergino Dest, Chelsea's preference seemed to be to try and prise Emerson Palmieri from his loan at Lyon. The Ligue 1 giants have been reluctant to consider the proposal however, with little time left to change their minds.
It's clear Chelsea have tried to make a move, but Tuchel has been very measured in his approach to the window.
"Nothing has changed but it needs to make sense, to be possible, make sense on a high level, also in terms of quality, personality," he said.
"We have a look into the market, nothing has changed. We have all options, also the option to say no."
January is generally a month of panic buying where teams try to salvage their season and the Blues boss clearly does not the thing the situation is at that stage at Stamford Bridge.
Newcastle United's Eddie Howe, summed up the situation well.
He said: "Talk about panic is an absolutely valid question in the sense that sometimes, if you dip below the line in terms of a player who you think can improve the group and then end up with someone that hasn’t, you’re in a worse position than when you started. That’s the crucial thing for us to remember at all times."
Making deals at the end of the window in particular can prove desperate.
For now, Chelsea have been unable to secure their preferred acquisition in Emerson, but will not be forced into making a transfer. The Blues' Premier League rivals appear to be scrambling, however.
Newcastle missed out on Diego Carlos as Sevilla's price proved too high and have now made a late bid for Dan Burn. Arsenal and Tottenham were unable to secure Dusan Vlahovic who joined Juventus at the end of the week and now scramble to sign another striker. The Gunners are being widely linked to Alexander Isak and Tottenham have been forced to use Fabio Paratici's Juventus contacts to move onto Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur.
Spurs also saw deals for Luis Diaz and Adama Traore hijacked by Liverpool and Barcelona respectively in the final week.
That is not to suggest those clubs didn't have a shortlist to work through, but as the hours tick by the balance between a valuable deal versus frantically filling a gap becomes a difficult one to navigate.
Steve Hitchen, Spurs' director of technical performance notoriously said during the Amazon All or Nothing documentary: "[The] January transfer window is the worst window. It's a window of opportunity, it's a window of panic, it's never a window to plan. I hate it."
In recent seasons Chelsea have rarely been in the business of purchasing players in January, they have of course been burned in the past.
That does not stop them from being linked to new signings however, and alongside Spurs, Arsenal and others they have been linked with Ousmane Dembele.
It's easy to draw upon Tuchel's experience coaching the Frenchman at Borussia Dortmund but given Chelsea's multitude of forwards and Dembele being available for free come the summer, little should change Chelsea's approach.
24 hours is a long time in football, particularly once deadline day enters full swing, but the Blues will be wise not to be rushed into any rash deals.
