Chelsea's summer toils in the transfer market might be about to be rewarded. Barcelona were the common block for several deals that Todd Boehly pushed for and in the end the only direct business between the two was the transfer of Marcos Alonso and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
That doesn't tell half of the story though. The Blues were ready to pounce on Ousmane Dembele's contract early on as issues arose, but he re-signed. Andreas Christensen had already agreed to leave Chelsea following the end of his own deal. Frenkie de Jong was a target throughout the summer but chose to remain in Catalonia despite ongoing wage problems there.
When it came to competing for players, Barcelona got the jump on other teams and secured Robert Lewandowski, meanwhile Raphinha back out of a move to London despite agreeing a fee to join Chelsea, only to announce his dream of playing in red and blue. Perhaps the biggest saga of all was Jules Kounde, who had a similar change of heart to Barcelona having spent most of the previous 12-months effectively waiting to hold up a Chelsea shirt.
