As Todd Boehly continues his expansive first tour of European football, attending 'meals', meeting agents and trying to replicate Marina Granovskaia's expert negotiations in the market, Thomas Tuchel needs not to panic.
The Blues are yet to sign a new player despite seeing three senior players leave the club this summer, with more departures in the coming months likely. There are currently just three centre-backs with more than 1,000 Premier League minutes played for the club, and one of those is close to joining Barcelona.
This has understandably concerned fans, especially as any progress made to bring in long-term target Jules Kounde, or Dutch star Matthijs de Ligt, appears to have stalled in recent days. As Chelsea prepare to travel to America for their pre-season tour later this week, the shape and personnel of the team is largely unknown.
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football.london understands that Raheem Sterling has all but completed his move to Stamford Bridge, but the future of current players such as Timo Werner, Jorginho, Hakim Ziyech and Marcos Alonso remains uncertain. This places Chelsea's Champions League winning manager in a tough spot when preparing for the new season, which gets underway in just under one month.
This isn't to say the foundations for a strong team aren't in place. It is believed that Mason Mount and Reece James are both being prepared new contract offers as Boehly looks to cement the spine of his team at SW6. Alongside the two English stars is a man at Cobham who is itching to make up for lost time.
Spotted in pre-season training pictures, wearing a cheesy grin, has been Ben Chilwell. The £50m left-back missed most of last season with a damaging ACL injury sustained against Juventus in November. He played just 13 games in all competitions and left a void in more ways than one as the season progressed.
Not only did Chelsea not have the depth at wingback, with Alonso the only natural senior player in that position, his playing style couldn't be matched by the Spaniard as Tuchel was made to adapt to a more pragmatic approach.
During Chilwell's mini seven game season in the league, he scored three times and assisted once, recording 0.66 goal contributions per match. This ranks him in second highest for this category in the league, only behind James, who managed 0.68 per match with five goals and nine assists.
Albeit with a small sample size, Chilwell's efforts over October and November would have landed him in the top 20 players in all positions for goal contributions per 90.
It would be unwise to see his impact on Chelsea through just numbers, though. His energy from wing-back, ability to play inside the pitch as a makeshift midfielder, and his relationship with James all made him one of the league's most lethal and effective players.
It isn't known what might have been for Chelsea last year if Chilwell hadn't been injured, but his immediate impact whilst he was available has fans hoping that he can replicate this form heading into the new season.
Chilwell has now had an extended period off, something he wasn't afforded last year, going straight into the European Championships before heading back to Cobham. He is evidently eager to be back, as reported earlier this summer, he has been making a name for himself on the training pitch already.
His manager is just as happy to see Chilwell back, saying "we were super excited" to see him back on the grass in Surrey. The 25-year-old made his first appearance after being injured, coming on as a substitute in the last minute of Chelsea's final day victory over Watford. Although the move was a slight risk for Chilwell, he has since been training fully in preparation for the new season after finishing the campaign on a personal high.
"There were so many different emotions going through my head when I came on: excitement, nerves, everything. It was an amazing reaction from the fans. It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a football pitch. To get that in before the end of the season is really good, and going into pre-season now I can really kick on," he said.
"I can really hit the ground running when I come to pre-season. I’ve got a lot of work to do still. The season is going to come around very quickly. It’s important I work hard over the summer to make sure I’m flying for pre-season.
"It’s a very tight group. From day one of my injury I’ve felt the support of the fans, the staff, the players, everyone involved with Chelsea. It’s made it a lot easier to get through it and I’m buzzing to be back."
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