Chelsea are already looking set for a frantic January transfer window. Coming almost immediately after the winter World Cup and the unknown repercussions of the tournament on football's transfer economics, the Blues have a stockpile of business to do in 2023.
Todd Boehly knows that his summer of interim sporting director responsibility hasn't gone away and without a replacement announced, January and next summer could be even more important than the window just passed. Whereby £250m was spent to overhaul Thomas Tuchel's squad, Graham Potter needs a continuation of that in the midfield and attacking departments.
As well as the incomings, Chelsea have two out of contract first team midfielders to make choices on and their replacements are possibly at the top of the importance list.
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N'Golo Kante is unlikely to play a game for the Blues before entering the final three months of his contract whereas Jorginho still looks more likely to leave than to remain with new blood desperately needed in the centre of the park. This is demonstrated by Chelsea's pursuit of Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice - both of which could turn to full throttle bidding wars next summer - whilst Edson Alvarez is another option. Bellingham and Alvarez could be looked at again in January, as could Benfica's Enzo Fernandez.
According to Sport, the 21-year-old has already attracted attention from Barcelona, Chelsea and Liverpool after moving to Portugal in June. Fernandez's standout performances have culminated in Champions League brilliance on top of excelling in Liga Portugal. Barcelona reportedly had Fernandez as an option at River Plate before he moved for just £10m, any deal in January or next summer would see him cost nearly £45m.
Chelsea are one of the clubs that will be looking at him during the World Cup as a solution to their midfield issues, as will Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool. He is seen as one of the brightest sparks in European football already and could be central to the revolution Boehly wants to implement at Stamford Bridge.
Although January is often a time of relative quiet in the market, Chelsea are looking to jump the queue for players they want, especially after missing out on so much of the early negotiations last summer due to sanctions and the ownership change. Whereas groundwork for Erling Haaland's transfer to Manchester City and Gabriel Jesus to Arsenal had been done by April and May, Chelsea were left behind in the proceedings and paid for it later on.
With no such obstacles, Boehly has already come to a pre-agreement with Christopher Nkunku and RB Leipzig as well as creating early dialogue for the deals involving Rice and Bellingham, meaning January is of heightened importance. If Fernandez is in the same camp then the new co-owners could be about to repeat a trick from their predecessors.
Chelsea's last big January signing was Christian Pulisic, who was signed in January 2019 with a deal to officially join the following summer for £54m. His move was quite the coup at the time and also an unexpected piece of early business, so much so that manager Maurizio Sarri claimed not to know about it. Chelsea's current group are likely to be more aligned than that, but if they can master the art of moving fast then they will bypass clubs waiting for a safer time.
Liverpool themselves made use of the winter window to sign Luis Diaz in January from Benfica's rivals Porto. The Reds themselves demonstrated shrewdness in the market as the Colombian instantly became a fixture in the first team. Chelsea will be hoping to stop a repeat of that with their own quick transfer trick.
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