Chelsea's transfer policy lacks logic - so where is their new sporting director when they need one the most?

Suddenly the biggest question of this January window is no longer if Arsenal will cash in on their contract rebels, or the possibility of Liverpool prolonging the inevitable by keeping Philippe Coutinho from Barcelona’s widening outstretched arms.

The examination no longer surrounds those who may or not be staying, but more the logic behind Chelsea’s transfer policy, the time warp the Premier League champions seem to be stuck in.

Discovering exactly who is pulling the strings at Stamford Bridge seems a more pressing window inquest.

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Everton’s Ross Barkley is arriving, and in what could be one of the most bizarre and questionable transfers of the decade, Andy Carroll is reportedly close to joining him.

The West Ham carthorse has his strengths but the slightest suggestion that the transfer could have a happy ending is about as likely as the chronically unfit forward playing back-to-back matches.

We live in an age of excessively disproportionate fees, a time where even the squad-fillers who make up the numbers on the back of a programme cost what a whole team did 20 years ago. But no market in the world would allow you to describe writing a £27m cheque for the West Ham striker as decent business.

For Barkley, the outlook is different. At £15m, it’s potentially a steal. Yes he’s out of contract in the summer but the moment he signs, his value more or less doubles. It carries more than a whiff of Chelsea’s new business model, where pure profit is pushed and pushed.

This is a player who has totally lost his way and his focus. Even with England crying out for his type of player, the 24-year-old is nowhere to be seen on the international scene. It’s three long years since his last meaningful match for his country.

When you consider Chelsea shelled out £35m for Danny Drinkwater, the Leicester City player who is decent enough but in reality little more than a back-up player messages are getting mixed.

Bringing back the English spine is a crowd-pleasing move but the rationale behind their stance with an uneasy backdrop behind the scenes confuses.

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More questions too about Chelsea’s refusal to give opportunities to players they have grown themselves. What possible future is there for Ruben Loftus-Cheek, undoubtedly in a much better place mentally and physically than Barkley after his fine England debut and contribution to Crystal Palace’s resurgence?

Manager Antonio Conte already sounds like he’s seen enough.

“I’ve rarely been given the players I’ve asked for,” he said on Thursday. The manager’s English is not the best but his well-researched “austerity programme” line was cherry-picked for the occasion.

Questions remain regarding Michael Emenalo’s departure in November. Leaving his role as their deal broker because he wanted to spend more time with his family, it took less than a fortnight for him to take up a new role at Monaco.

Director Marina Granovskaia has been standing in, but quite how Chelsea haven’t filled the sporting director position before the window will only anger a manager already rumoured to be tiring of life in west London.

Reports in Spain that Chelsea are to replace coach Conte with Luis Enrique, The Sun say Diego Simeone is their wanted man.

Carroll and Barkley don’t appear to be the players he wants, but can’t have.