Marina Granovskaia has been proven right in Chelsea's January transfer strategy with former Premier League icon Nigel De Jong admitting he is 'not surprised' at seeing no signings arrive in SW6 this month.
Thomas Tuchel's squad had been stretched to the limit in the build-up to the first transfer window in 2022 with large proportions of the Chelsea squad spending time on the side-lines due to injury and Covid issues respectively.
Most of these said problems have come in the Blues' backline with Reece James and Ben Chilwell long-term absentees - injuries that have affected the European Champions' form during the festive schedule.
Heading into the Club World Cup, Tuchel's men sit in the precarious position of third place with 47 points but could be hanging on to that position when they return from the United Arab Emirates with all of Spurs, Arsenal, Man United and West Ham playing catch up over that period.
Man City and Liverpool also have games in hand meaning that the 10 point deficit at the top is likely to be more when the Blues are to play in the Premier League again, with a London derby assignment at Crystal Palace next on the agenda once their involvement in the upcoming Club World Cup comes to an end.
Squad depth is vital in these congested situations and the lack of sufficient wing-back cover has haunted the current Champions League winners who were expected to make at least one signing- and that coming at full-back.
A host of names have been linked to provide cover for Chilwell, who will not be returning this season, and the likes of Sergino Dest, Leyvin Kurzawa and Borna Sosa have been names mentioned in regards to filling this void.
However, Granovskaia and co. only had their eyes on one player in particular, Emerson Palmieri, and despite him still technically being part of the club, the west Londoners have not been able to convince Lyon to relinquish the Italian international, football.london understands.
Elsewhere, Ousmane Dembele was a name that came on the Chelsea agenda late on but no deal will be struck before the deadline passes by as the board would prefer a summer swoop instead, allowing the likes of PSG to take advantage of this situation.
So, unless a miracle happens, there will be no new incomings this month at the Bridge and despite clear fan frustration on social media centering around the lack of backing for Tuchel, Nigel De Jong has sided with Granovskaia and the Chelsea board in this debate.
Speaking on Sky Sports on deadline day about Chelsea's transfer window, he reasoned with his explanation: "If you look at the overall of the team in every department there, the players that they have.
"If you really think about it, what else do they need? Up front, midfield and defence wise they are quite stacked when it comes to players so they don’t really need something. I don’t see any department for room for improvement.
"Of course, it doesn’t really reflect in the league table and how many points they’re behind Liverpool and City but you never know.
"You still have like 11 hours to go to make a move before transfer deadline ends so we might see something out of Chelsea’s ground but so far I’m not surprised."
Dembele is the only player who could still make a late switch to SW6 before 11 PM on Monday night, according to Sky Sport's Gary Cotterill who has said that they have been offered him yet again today.
Worryingly though, transfer guru Fabrizio Romano has described the deadline day scenario in west London with one damning sentence on his Twitch stream: 'Chelsea are really slow.'
