Chelsea will have taken the opportunity during the mid-season break to discuss their plans for the January transfer window. The period has offered a rare opportunity in a hectic season for clubs to take stock and lay plans, something Graham Potter was hoping to do with Blues' owners as his first transfer window in charge of the club beckons.
There was no shortage of business in the summer as Chelsea added Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly, Wesley Fofana, Marc Cucurella, Carney Chukwuemeka, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Denis Zakaria in addition to a number of players for the development squad. It was new territory for Todd Boehly as he took on the role of interim-sporting director and spent time negotiating deals across Europe with the help of fellow co-owner Behdad Eghbali.
Boehly retains that role as things stand but the Blues have started to form a more accomplished recruitment team who will ultimately take the reigns.
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Kyle MaCaulay joined alongside Potter in September, to act as a conduit between coaching and recruitment, while Paul Winstanley has more recently been added to the club's staff as director of global talent and transfers. Joe Shields and Laurence Stewart have also been confirmed as joining the Blues once their ties to Southampton and Monaco, respectively, come to an end.
If the summer was a learning experience for Boehly, January will bring yet more lessons as a turbulent and expensive month in the transfer window. It will not have taken long to realise even the best laid plans may needing adding to or altered.
Boehly and Eghbali were present in Abu Dhabi as Armando Broja left the field on a stretcher. It has since emerged that he is unlikely to play again this season and requires surgery on a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament. With the Blues deciding they needed to add Aubameyang late in the last window, the supposition that there will be consideration of adding another now does not appear far-fetched.
Under Roman Abramovich and the leadership of Marina Granovskaia, January business had been avoided in recent seasons. January 2019 and the addition of Gonzalo Higuain is the last time Chelsea pulled the trigger in the first month of the year.
In 2018, the Blues saw Olivier Giroud, Ross Barkley and Emerson Palmieri arrive at Stamford Bridge at the cost of around £50m. It quickly becomes apparent that the success of such moves is unpredictable.
Upon taking over the club, much has been conveyed by Boehly and co, of ensuring Chelsea are competitive in the long term. They will have short term considerations too, however, with Chelsea currently outside of the Champions League spots and the outcome of the season set to directly impact the ability of the club to land future targets.
Already an agreement to bring Christopher Nkunku to Stamford Bridge at the end of the campaign is close, but the pressure of finding someone sooner could weigh heavy. There was interest in Cristiano Ronaldo in the summer and he is currently a free agent, while Joao Felix could possibly be available from Atletico Madrid and reports have emerged of Chelsea hoping for an agreement for 18-year-old Borussia Dortmund striker Youssoufa Moukoko.
The direction the club chooses will set the tone for Chelsea and Graham Potter moving forwards. A transfer of any kind next month will see the Blues forging a different path, and the new recruitment team faced with a stiff first challenge.
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