When it comes to surefire success stories in the transfer window, a player with experience of the division, in their peak and with over 100 league goals would come near the top of that list. It fits the bill for Todd Boehly's first addition to the Chelsea men's team but it also describes one of the club's biggest failures.
Romelu Lukaku was meant to be the man for Thomas Tuchel last year. It was well documented how good the deal seemed to fit, on the outside at least, without going into tactical details and personal issues, the transfer should have drawn Chelsea closer to their rivals.
Of course, it didn't work out like that, and as much as fans will want to hear as much from the Belgian striker as possible, the loan move back to Inter Milan is only a temporary solution. For now it has little impact on the business that Boehly does.
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The American has no affinity with Lukaku. He didn't pursue him, chuck money at him and offer a redemption for years that were missed off the striker's emulation of Didier Drogba. That was all Roman Abramovich, and a little bit of Tuchel's own countenance.
Therefore, it's much easier for Boehly to sanction Lukaku's departure. It's understood that Petr Cech and Marina Granovskaia, both key parts of the transfer in the first place, were both keen to see Lukaku play out a second season at Stamford Bridge to salvage some of the damage. Their departure, along with a new direction from the Boehly/Clearlake ownership, has meant a clean slate, in some sense.
However, at the end of the 2022/23 season, Chelsea will have decisions to make. Their plans will have to be in place and are likely going to come around very quickly. If Lukaku has a great World Cup for instance, the logistics behind him returning to SW6 next season look tough to calculate, and there will be some big decisions to made.
It's something that Tuchel can't escape either. He was only able to get eight league goals from a £97m record signing and, no matter what external factors were at play, that doesn't look good. The relationship between them frayed quickly though, and there was a mutual acceptance between them.
"We decided together with the owners that we'd let him go," said Tuchel, speaking on the Blues' pre-season tour of America. "It was his wish to go, he had the possibility, we let him go."
Signing Raheem Sterling is part of a changing team that has to prove Tuchel right in his move to let Lukaku move on, initially on loan at least. The England winger is the first of a number of expected additions to the side that finished third last season and the former Manchester City winger will be tasked with firing in the goals that Lukaku couldn't produce.
Whether Sterling has a good season, an average on, or a bad one, it's unlikely to effect the next chapter of the Lukaku saga. The chapter is waiting to be written, because in 12 months time he is due to return and Chelsea have to start again.
Perhaps playing the middle ground, but Tuchel didn't let on that the Belgian's Blues second stint at the club was completely over. "Given the fact he's just on loan, of course there's a chance [he could play again]. I don't know if it's very likely, but it's not on me to give an outlook on that. There is a chance for it."
He also commented on the differing styles of forward that Sterling and Lukaku offer, adding: "We brought now Raheem Sterling, which gives us a lot of flexibility, a lot of mobility, a lot of attacking options at the front, even if we don't recruit more players."
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