Chelsea transfer news: The Blues are planning to make an offer for Manchester City attacker Cole Palmer but have already got a kitted out right-side.
At what stage is it okay to ask just what the plan is here?
This is not one of the derivative social media takes calling out Todd Boehly and his Football Manager style ownership, no. This is a genuine question as to just how Chelsea actually sculpt all of this together.
In isolation there are so many good parts of the new regime's changes. Some of the players are exceptional, the sales have been remarkable and the appointment of Mauricio Pochettino followed by the new energy at the club is nearly entirely positive. However, put the moves together and things just don't add up.
Since last summer alone Chelsea have added Diego Moreira, Omari Hutchinson, Angelo Gabriel and Noni Madueke to their squad. Their common denominator is that each one is a left-footed right-winger. All talented and individually promising but even if the squad was ripped up to bare bones, there is no way that each can be a success at the club at the same time.
The simple explanation is that Chelsea are focusing efforts on increasing revenue from player sales and trading, something that they have become adept at already over the years. Their income of over £215million ($271m) this summer alone is evidence of that and is the third summer with over £150million ($189m) of sales since 2019 and the fourth since 2017.
The club have already gotten very good at selling assets and that is only likely to increase with the new owners prioritising revenue boosts at a time whereby the on-field activity is far from a highlight of their activities. Rightly or wrongly the trading is heading down a line of conveyor belt production. It's what will be fuelled by the multi-club expansion with RC Strasbourg and is largely behind the youth recruitment drive.
For low prices Chelsea can hardly lose from a monetary standpoint. They are in the process of re-working the wage structure to accommodate long-contracts safely, meaning that even if Madueke, for example, were to flop, then he wouldn't be costing the world on the accounts.
Perhaps next year if they do qualify for Europe then the need will arise but even with injuries to Christopher Nkunku and Carney Chukwuemeka, issues that will be resolved in time and with fitness, buying more in these areas just appears to be overkill. What, for example, is the plan when both are hopefully fit post-Christmas and Madueke is competing with two more players?
They are just a few names on a long list that includes, but is not limited to, fellow left-footed and right side dominant players that also contains Rayan Cherki and Bradley Barcola.
He can play as a striker, behind a striker or from the right, he's also left-footed because of course he is, so does offer versatility in the front-line but really, it's another name for one of four spots that already has lots of competition. Judging by the prices being paid and quoted elsewhere in the market the 21-year-old wouldn't come cheap either.
Although if he were to be a success at Chelsea then the price would likely not become much of a talking point, it is questionable still just how this all works out in the short-term. He would be the sixth player including Maatsen to come into the squad as a left-footed attacker in the past year alone and these numbers just don't compute.