After the famine, a feast is on pre-order at Stamford Bridge.
After a year of frustration and fax machines gathering dust, Chelsea are back at the table.
Hakim Ziyech? Done. Timo Werner? Agreed in principle. Ben Chilwell? Surely the next item on the menu.
Come late summer - or whenever the 2020-21 campaign finally begins - Chelsea's young pretenders will have much-needed reinforcements.
In a transfer market depressed by coronavirus and financial ruin throughout the world, Chelsea have dipped deep into their pockets. Gone too, it seems, are the days of hit and hope.
Instead the Blues have developed a slick, stealthy recruitment policy which has allowed them to steal a march on their rivals.
Manchester United chief Ed Woodward insists they will back Ole Gunnar Solskjaer but that it will unlikely be 'business as usual' come the next window. Arsenal, meanwhile, are looking to cut costs amid the Covid-19 crisis.
There has been no such caution in West London and this matters. First, it would suggest any fears over Roman Abramovich's ongoing commitment to the cause are unfounded. And, perhaps more crucially, the past few months prove Frank Lampard is more than a willing sacrifice.
For all the rose-tinted nostalgia which greeted his appointment, the cold reality was clear: Chelsea turned to their former midfielder, in part, because luring a more experienced coach was harder with a two-window transfer ban included in the welcome pack.
Many expected Lampard would do little more than buy time for the likes of Massimiliano Allegri.
To his credit, however, the 41-year-old has proven there is more than romance to his philosophy. With the cards he was dealt, he has created an attacking, young side which has flattered to deceive at times, but which has defied most expectations and bred renewed optimism among the Stamford Bridge faithful.
Tammy Abraham has led the line brilliantly. Mason Mount has grown into a mature attacking threat. Reece James looks like a seasoned Premier League full back before his 21st birthday.
Heading into the restart, Chelsea have a three-point cushion on United in the race for the top four.
How quickly the landscape can change. Last summer already feels like a bygone era: Maurizio Sarri gone, followed out the door by Eden Hazard. On matchday one, Chelsea were on the end of a hiding at Old Trafford - the task of changing tack falling on the shoulders of a novice coach who could neither replace his best player, nor survive on goodwill alone.
To his credit, results did turn and then crucially, the embargo was lifted for January.
But after the turn of the year, the skies darkened once more.
Lampard did little to hide his frustration that Chelsea had to strengthen in January following failed moves for Dries Mertens and Edinson Cavani. Without added quality - and despite a six-point cushion - Chelsea were now 'underdogs' for the top-four, apparently.
Who knows what will pass in the final sprint that awaits. But whether Chelsea hang on, or fall short, Lampard has earned the backing of his owner.
He has earned the chance to build his own squad and to try and take Chelsea back to the top table. Thursday night's news that they had agreed to sign Werner for £53million was the clearest indication yet that Abramovich agrees.
Now the Hazard-sized hole can begin to be filled. And if anyone at Stamford Bridge was unsure just how far they had slipped below the best, Bayern Munich painted the clearest of pictures.
In late February, just before coronavirus shutdown football across the world, the German giants taught Chelsea a 'harsh lesson' in controlling top-tier matches. By the end, Chelsea were perhaps fortunate the Champions League clash ended only 3-0.
Lampard was under no illusions, calling it 'a reality for the players of the levels we want to get to.'
From next season, however, he knows excuses will begin to wear thin now Chelsea have strengthened an attack which began to weigh heavy on Abraham's slight frame and creaking bones.
Before the shutdown, he was Chelsea's top scorer with 15 goals. An impressive return for his first full top-flight season. But that Michy Batshuayi is their next most prolific striker with six illustrates why Lampard has been looking elsewhere.
Cavani and Mertens would have provided an immediate dose of quality but in Werner, Lampard has secured one of the most sought-after strikers in world football. Still only 24, the Germany international has been prolific for RB Leipzig this season and Lampard need only look towards his former coach for evidence of the havoc Werner can cause top Premier League defenders.
Jose Mourinho's Tottenham were cut to pieces, pulled this way and that, by Werner's pace and clever movement from wide when RB Leipzig won 1-0 in London earlier this season. Werner scored the winner and the only cause for slight concern? He could and should have had more.
It represents a coup, then, that Chelsea were able to steal him despite interest from Liverpool. Christian Pulisic is perhaps their only other signing of recent times when Chelsea have muscled their way to the front of the queue.
Lampard knows only too well the damage Ziyech can wreak. In the two Champions League meetings between Chelsea and Ajax this season, the winger's trickery and devilish delivery were a constant threat.
The arrival of both will add new layers to Chelsea's forward line.
Chilwell would be another welcome addition. Burnley and Spurs are the only sides in the top half who have conceded more Premier League goals than Chelsea so far this season. And left back has been a particular problem during Lampard's first season, with neither Marcos Alonso nor Emerson nailing down the position.
Question marks remain over Kepa and Chelsea's long-term goalkeeping options but thanks to Abramovich's millions, more pieces of the jigsaw are suddenly starting to fit.
With that, Lampard will know, comes pressure. Patience and sympathy run dry more quickly once financial backing arrives.
But the 41-year-old has earned this support. Now he must prove it is money well spent.