Chelsea can repeat Cole Palmer and Christopher Nkunku transfer trick with major £94m deals
It's the summer of 2023, Chelsea have signed RB Leipzig's star forward and attention turns towards a Wythenshawe-based Manchester club academy graduate for their transfer business. Skip forward 12 months, Chelsea have the chance to poach RB Leipzig's second-top scorer and a Wythenshawe-born Manchester United prodigy-turned-club centurion.
Signing Cole Palmer didn't go too badly. He has 20 goals and 10 assists in the league, why not try and do something similar? As for Christopher Nkunku, his debut season in England hasn't gone as planned but Chelsea do ultimately still own one of the most diverse attackers in world football, when fit.
As far as windows go, they are two good pieces of business. The transfer fees paid weren't astronomical either, especially not compared to some of the others we have seen either side of these deals.
How Nkunku and Palmer will slot together in 2024/25, when their relationship will actually be able to form (injury permitting), is one question. How Chelsea support them with other options is another.
This year the reliance has been on Palmer's shoulders too much. It is a burden he has taken without question, but to expect the same of him next season to this level would be quite the demand. Chelsea, as Mauricio Pochettino has explained, are in need of readymade options to provide a bit more in the now.
Noni Madueke and Mykhailo Mudryk have had flashes of form but that is about it. Nicolas Jackson has done admirably well with considerably more game time and pressure than he would have expected when arriving but could do with someone else to share the central striker role.
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It's no surprise that Chelsea are once more looking to the attack as a position that needs yet more investment. Something will have to give in terms of outgoings but the options aren't exactly short for the co-sporting directors to take their pick of for reinforcement.
In Leipzig's effective partial replacement for Nkunku is someone the club are already looking at. Benjamin Sesko is not going to match the output Nkunku this season but at the same age their records are comparable, albeit impressive in different ways.
Nkunku is more creative and deep-lying than Sesko, who stands at 6ft4in. The Slovenian youngster is a striker in every sense of the word. He is huge, physically impressive, and still extremely raw.
There's no surprise that he is admired by Chelsea (and Arsenal, Manchester United, plus other top clubs). He fits the age bracket pursued by the owners and has plenty of impressive qualities to provide both now and to be developed for the future.
With a £43million release clause becoming active in the summer it wouldn't be past Chelsea to try and raid the German side again. They secured Nkunku via similar means - albeit having secured his signing long before the summer announcement - and could now bring the pair together.
Just whether he is an upgrade on Jackson is debatable. His skillset is different but no more complete at this stage. His ceiling may well be higher in many ways but there is still the element of rawness that leaves much to be desired.
Chelsea, or at least Pochettino, seek immediate quality to be added to the squad, a sense of some known element to help lift the floor of this squad whilst it improves on the job. Sesko isn't that, but alongside Marcus Rashford there could be something to get excited about.
The Manchester United forward has once again seen his own fans turn on him. Over the weekend he was forced to defend himself from abuse being received on the back of poor form and an increasingly toxic environment at the club once more.
Despite signing a new long-term deal with his boyhood side at the start of the season all is not well. United are not ruling out a sale in the summer even if they aren't planning to move him on but they wouldn't turn down bids if the right number came up.
It is similar to the stance Chelsea have taken with much of their own squad in an attempt to maintain cash flow from player trading as well as not holding onto those that aren't happy. Rashford is not necessarily at this stage, but supporters have grown tired of his troughs.
The 26-year-old is in a bad run, just two goals in his last 10 in the league, and currently on course for the second worst season since 2018. Just last year he was on the way to scoring 30 in all competitions though, helping Erik ten Hag to an impressive first year in charge.
This is the player Chelsea would hope for if they were to test the waters. At this stage there is no suggestion that the Mancunian is on their radar, but perhaps he should be.
Palmer has made the move south and into a differing, if no less unstable, setting. He has thrived and set the standard for new signings to meet.
Rashford is five years older and not the same type of player but he does appear to be in the range of player Chelsea could do with a few more of. Even with his flaws - nobody is quite sure what he best role is, off the left or through the middle, with or without a strike partner, and at his worst an overwhelming lack of pressing - there is a player that brings a certain element of grounded feeling to the pitch.
His value is certainly lower than it was this time last year, down at £51million according to Transfermarkt. His wages are big and would be out of line with the structure at Stamford Bridge, but for premium players, the like of which Rashford can be, there are premium prices.
It seems that he needs unleashing once more, a burst of life. That could come next year at Old Trafford in his bi-annual goal blitz, or it could be somewhere else. If it was at Chelsea it would mirror the way they took advantage of circumstances to sign Palmer.
The pair would be alongside Nkunku and Sesko in this slightly mad world, but that set of players has more to offer currently than one with Mudryk and Madueke still sorting out the controls. In isolation both deals make sense but perhaps together with the squad on hand it is less logical.
How Chelsea tie this all together, the opportunities and demands, will be nothing short of intriguing. They certainly can't complain at a lack of options though.