Chelsea will likely be busy again in the January transfer window after a chaotic summer period that saw an estimated £250m spent by the club's new owners who had only taken over in early June.
Despite vast excitement and intrigue at the time, Chelsea's start to the campaign could not have gone much worse. Within seven games there was a change in head coach and even after a short burst, Graham Potter goes into the World Cup break with three successive Premier League defeats.
The mood is bad and the outlook is bleak. The six-week break for Qatar will naturally turn attention to the January window and what can be done to potentially salvage a campaign that is fastly going wrong.
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With that in mind and the potential of Todd Boehly responding in the market, football.london takes a look at the big things that could happen in January.
In for Edson
No area needs more attention than Chelsea's midfield. Overlooked and arguably under-staffed for several seasons due to N'Golo Kante's persistent injury issues, the lack of a dominant profile has been missing since the departure of Nemanja Matic in 2017.
Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic look worn out at Chelsea, the Italian is likely past his best as his contract ticks down to next summer. Kovacic has failed to build on a mostly encouraging 2021/22. Kante will not be back until February at the earliest, but relying on his fitness is a flawed strategy.
Ajax's Edson Alvarez was heavily linked before deadline day in the summer but any potential move fell through due to it coming beyond the Eredivisie's own deadline. The player though has since indicated his openness to switching to west London and the interest could be reignited in the new year.
Endrick Plan fulfilled
Clearly one for the future, but 16-year-old Palmeiras forward Endrick has sparked the serious interest of several top European clubs, with Chelsea among PSG and Real Madrid looking to sign him in 2023.
Chelsea were given a boost when a report emerged that Thiago Silva had welcomed his younger compatriot to Cobham in hopes of convincing him that a switch to England was his best choice.
Boehly's ownership has already shown a keen interest in investing in exciting young talent, looking at the money spent over the summer for Omari Hutchinson, Carney Chukwuemeka and Cesare Casadei.
Reece backup
Another potentially overlooked area in Chelsea's squad is good cover for Reece James who has suffered several injury setbacks in recent years.
Although James' talent will be hard to replicate, the lack of suitable replacements for him when he is injured is hard to ignore. Cesar Azpilicueta and Ruben Loftus-Cheek have had to fill in, with Conor Gallagher playing as a right wingback in the second half against Newcastle.
Links to Densel Dumfries from Inter were touted over the summer, whilst recently Bayer Leverkusen's Jeremie Frimpong has been linked to the club. It remains a blindspot Chelsea need to address in some capacity should James' injuries persist.
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