It's been quite the week at Chelsea in what has been a hectic season.
The Blues saw their return to the Premier League with a narrow win over Crystal Palace which encapsulated Romelu Lukaku's seven-touch performance, before returning to Champions League action with an impressive display against Lille where Kai Havertz and Christian Pulisic got on the scoresheet.
What followed were Carabao Cup preparations interrupted by Roman Abramovich announcing that he would hand the 'stewardship' of the club over to Chelsea's foundation, though his statement only drew more confusion rather than the clarity it was intended.
The clash against Liverpool followed with contentious goals being disallowed and 22 penalties were required to separate the sides with Chelsea ultimately falling on the wrong side of the result.
So with plenty of talking points football.london's writers took to the site to provide their latest insight to the behind the scenes goings on at Stamford Bridge in a Q&A that of course touched on transfers.
Take a look below at the questions Scott Trotter and Adam Newson answered below:
Q: Is there ever a chance for Chelsea to actively complete any transfer deals before the season is over? If Yes, who is the most likely?
AN: "In the strictest sense, yes Chelsea could complete a transfer deal now but they wouldn't be able to register the player until the summer (take Hakim Ziyech's signing from Ajax as an example).
"Out of all the potential additions and reported targets, I suspect Jules Kounde would be the easiest to get sorted ahead of the window officially opening.
"Not only because he has a release clause that Chelsea could trigger if they so choose but because there has already been dialogue between the Blues and Sevilla last summer over the defender, who was very keen to come to Stamford Bridge."
ST: "I expect things are probably busy behind the scenes at the moment. Chelsea have long term targets, loan players to watch and players with contracts running out too. I think deciding what the outcome of the latter is will come before being able to complete any business really."
Q: Do you think there is a reasonable explanation why we now leave contracts to run into their final years before giving new contracts? Doesn't that hand over all the negotiating powers to the players?
ST: "I think the answer is different depending on the player. With the likes of Rudiger, his place in the side was obviously less certain under Frank Lampard before becoming near undroppable under Tuchel. Would he have stayed without a change in manager? The German defender also didn't want to negotiate until after the Euros.
"With Azpilicueta, the stage he is at in his career means that Chelsea may not want to offer the length of deal the Spaniard hopes for and there's respect on both sides whatever the outcome.
"Christensen, is another difficult one as they've seemed close at moments before changes to demands, perhaps that may have been less prominent if it had been tied up sooner.
"Seems there could be a greater tendency for players to get nearer the end of their deals too, with the likes of Salah and Mane nearing the end of their deals. Players likely want more negotiating power and maybe more options. It's a short career, and when you see the likes of Kane in the middle of his deal, it's difficult to get moves you want."
Q: Just wondering about CBs. thought Trevoh was really good yesterday in that RCB role. I was just wondering if you guys had any thoughts about whether losing Christensen definitively means moving to a back 4 for next season? Other than Thiago, the only other player I can think of currently who would fit in there is Ampadu, and he's not really played in the middle of a back 3 at Venice much this year, seemingly played everywhere else!
ST: "As ever it seems so much will depend on what happens this summer. Tuchel has shown a clear preference for playing with three central defenders so at this stage it would seem unusual for him to veer away from that unless the situation forces him to.
"Silva continues to surprise and he's had quite the run of games of late, but it would be a lot to expect of him next season alone, if Christensen does depart. Perhaps, a back four could become part of the rotation.
"I agree on Chalobah, he played well and feel his place is on the right of that back three. Will be interesting to see what happens with the Jules Kounde saga to impact that."
Q: The Kounde signing does feel a bit odd, given it necessitates playing him in a 3 due to his lack of height, unless he becomes a RB rotation option? Tuchel has played with a lot, but personally I felt that was more him recognising the best CB at the club was 36 when he came in, and we lack a proper holding midfielder. Wonder if he might feel like a 4 could work next season if we got a more traditional defensive midfielder in?
ST: "I'm sure there was an element of that and Tuchel used both a back three and back four in his time at PSG and Dortmund so he probably wants a degree of flexibility. Kounde's price would seem excessive for rotation and by all accounts he may be too good to not play more. He has played as part of back four too, so he's not incapable but obviously physical demands will be different in the Premier League.
"Midfield is another really interesting area for the summer with Kante and Jorginho entering the final year of their deals, Gallagher, Gilmour and Ampadu's return before even mentioning Tchouameni and Rice links. Whether they have a strict defensive midfielder to rely upon would seem very much up in the air, with the above names all doing more than that. Will be very interested to see if Ampadu can impress enough to follow Chalobah's path given the other names he's competing with."
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Q: We've got a bunch of forward players who are at best, a bit goal-shy, and at worst couldn't get it on target to save their lives. Given we're not going out to repeatedly spend 400 million on attackers each season, what can be done to improve the lacklustre finishing? I'm wondering if it's a mental issue, as much as a specific personnel issue.
ST: "It's a tricky one and I guess why Lukaku was signed in the summer. Chelsea score enough to goals to compete with most teams (third highest scorers in the league) but are far behind Manchester City and Liverpool.
"To solve the Lukaku issues, who knows at the moment? The problem lies between Lukaku's performances and tactics perhaps not being suited. The front three against Lille and Liverpool looked so much more fluid without him and actually quite exciting outside of the finishing yesterday.
"Perhaps it's getting used to the responsibility but Chelsea usually struggle to make enough good chances. That wasn't true yesterday which is promising. Often the Blues just need to attack a little quicker, it feels relatively often a ball his kept slightly too long in transition and the opportunity to release a forward passed.
"Plenty of areas to still improve really, despite there being some very, very good players."
