Chelsea's deadline day was relatively panicked. Although Todd Boehly was able to secure a deal for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with ease, in the end, there was a period when Thomas Tuchel might have been looking to the sky in hope.
The German was desperate for a new midfielder after Ruben Loftus-Cheek's injury against Southampton further exposed weakness in that area of the pitch and despite him saying publicly that there was no need for reinforcement there, that was where Chelsea's efforts were focused for most of deadline day.
The Blues scanned world football in the hope that a new option might crop up and some new faces did come about. Edson Alvarez was a new name to many Premier League watchers and despite his quality profile, it was too late to prize him from Ajax.
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Ibrahim Sangare is another name that the club have looked at before, but he was also unattainable. So then to a time in which the top two options aren't available but a very specific specialist defensive midfielder was needed. Denis Zakaria became the rogue choice and with a loan deal wrapped up quickly, it made sense.
How different things might have been, though. Fabrizio Romano is now reporting, in retrospect, that there was another player Chelsea wanted to acquire, and it would have looked a little bit embarassing, in some ways, if it had gone through.
The transfer guru released a Youtube video addressing the window, saying, "We know about Sangare and Alvarez, they [Chelsea] had many players on their list in the final days of the window but on deadline day, before jumping on the Zakaria opportunity a few hours before the end of the market.
"Chelsea made a bid to Southampton in the early afternoon for Romeo Lavia. It was a surprising bid worth £50m. A really big proposal for a player that joined Southampton this summer. Southampton signed Lavia, born in 2004, already scored in the league, he joined this summer from Manchester City for 12m euros plus add ons.
"Man City have a buyback clause for 40m euros and Chelsea had a bid of £50m for the same player that joined this summer. The answer from Southampton was no, they want to keep the player, he is part of the project, but Chelsea really tried for Lavia."
The irony is that Lavia, only 18 years old, showed Chelsea's own midfield up on Tuesday, August 30. Two days before the bid came in for Lavia, he scored the equaliser, his first Premier League goal, and helped Saints to run rings around Jorginho and Loftus-Cheek for the most part.
Although the maths behind the bid are staggering, £50m offered for a player with just 420 minutes of league action at that moment, and an effective £38m difference between what Southampton paid for him and what Chelsea were prepared to pay out of desperation, it does raise bigger questions.
There had been rumblings of discontent over Boehly's management of finances in the transfer market with Marc Cucurella's fee, Wesley Fofana's price and the scattergun approach all factors mentioned, but these are smaller matters. The issue is that now Zakaria looks like an even more instinctive and risky deal before he's kicked a ball.
The obvious parallel is with Saul Niguez who had a poor spell in West London last season, but now Zakaria looks to be the fourth choice, at best. With Tuchel also saying, "There's always a risk in everything and in every last minute deal. This was an option that came in very late. It was related maybe not to the numbers that we should have in midfield but actually have in midfield.
"This was maybe a last minute or last days option. That was kind of on top of what was needed. He gives us in my opinion a lot of options because he has a lot of speed, height and physicality to bring to this group. He can play at even wing-back because he is fast enough and has the volume so I think giving the risks that you mentioned with Saul, he has a bit more positions to play in and a bit more of a physical profile, hopefully."
For Tuchel to willingly mention Saul is a reason for more Zakaria questions over the planning of this move, but for now it's time to wait and see what he can offer on the pitch.
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