Cole Palmer has just sent Chelsea clear £40m transfer message as plan for next signing revealed

After costly defeats at tricky grounds cost Mauricio Pochettino and Chelsea a place in the top four last season, Enzo Maresca has so far made relatively light work of some of the more unappealing away trips this season. Despite being against out-of-form sides, three wins from matches against Bournemouth, West Ham, and Wolves have left the Blues in a strong position.

Bouncing back from a tough opening-day assignment, Chelsea's flood of attacking players are providing serious entertainment and threat. Combined with Levi Colwill leading at the back and stepping up in the absence of Thiago Silva and Moises Caicedo continuing where he left off at the end of last season, Maresca has so far managed a core group of strong options well.

There are tougher challenges on the horizon though. Chelsea have ultimately had a relatively tame start to the campaign. They have overcome challenges that plagued past years without demonstrating true top four credentials just yet.

Here, football.london looks at the latest headlines from around the club in the aftermath of beating West Ham 3-0.

Jackson response

Nicolas Jackson continued his fine form for Chelsea with yet more London derby goals. Scoring twice inside 20 minutes to put Chelsea ahead and in the clear, he not only made it 10 goals in 12 matches against local rivals, but also added to his wider impressive record.

The 23-year-old now has 18 Premier League goals and seven assists, all from open play, in just 40 games (35 starts). Compare that to Kai Havertz, who ended his time at Stamford Bridge with a tally of 19 goals and seven assists from 91 games, and Jackson has more than established himself.

READ MORE: Chelsea next five fixtures compared to Man United, Tottenham and Newcastle after West Ham win

READ MORE: Chelsea dealt worst-case injury blow vs West Ham as Enzo Maresca reveals new Wesley Fofana plan

It comes in a week whereby questions over Christopher Nkunku's place in the team were fielded. Just three weeks ago Chelsea were also making their efforts known in a bid to sign another striker to compete with Jackson.

They had been willing to spend £40million on both Jhon Duran and Samu Omorodion, players with desirable attributes but perhaps even more raw, whilst pushing for Victor Osimhen as well. With his latest contribution, Jackson has well and truly hit back to prove his point.

football.london says: Jackson deserves an immense amount of credit and he doesn't really get it. Although he is not as clinical as other elite strikers, his output is comparable with some of the best.

Not only does Jackson score at a good rate for someone still at an early stage of his career but he actively makes his teammates better with smooth linkups and ever-improving holdup play. Maybe if he played for a club that hadn't been as chaotic over the past two years he would get some better PR, but Chelsea certainly appreciate him and for now that is all that matters.

Cole Palmer, for example, was keen to show just how much Jackson is admired and respected by those inside Chelsea. Meanwhile, it is notable that Duran is finding a way to regularly score from the bench for Aston Villa and is a player Chelsea were keen on for much of the summer.

Jackson is so far making that not seem like too much of a missed opportunity. Maresca is all the better off for it too.

Paez plan

Chelsea aim to integrate not only Estevao Willian but also fellow South American attacking talent Kendry Paez into the first team setup next season. Having signed the teenager from Independiente del Valle last year, the Ecuadorian talent is expected to be given a pathway into the senior squad immediately.

It has so far been Estevao that has got the most attention due to his impact at Palmeiras, where he is putting up output comparable to Neymar, but Paez is deemed to be a world star of the future as well.

Speaking about the coup Chelsea pulled off with getting Paez, Fabrizio Romano explained: “In terms of talents guys, we already mentioned Chelsea and Willian Estevao a few videos ago. But they are also buzzing for Kendry Paez, the Ecuadorian super talent.

“And I can guarantee to you that there are some clubs around Europe thinking ugh why didn’t they sign Kendry Paez, especially in Germany there were clubs super interested in Kendry Paez. Bayer Leverkusen tried but there were other clubs interested in Kendry they didn’t invest on him at the right moment and then Chelsea signed this super, super talent.

“He will arrive in summer 2025. He was already in London few months ago to prepare to adopt he was at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea are working really on every single detail for Kendry Paez, so monitoring his progress on the pitch, monitoring everything also off the pitch to have the best version possible of Kendry Paez in 2025.

“Chelsea are in direct contact with people close to the player to inform him about everything they want him to do to arrive in 2025 in the best conditions possible for Chelsea. So they are buzzing for Kendy Paez really very, very happy with the investment they made, remember it’s something around 20million, add-ons included. So already already a fantastic signing for Chelsea.”

football.london says: Ignoring the problem with adding two more young forwards to an already stacked front line, Kendry is showing signs of being another player Chelsea have done well to sign. At this stage he already looks a fine young talent and the club will be hopeful of helping him explode.

Of course, buying quality at this age is one thing and getting them to develop in a way that allows them to play a role in the Premier League is quite another. Chelsea have actually been pretty poor at nurturing all the potential at their disposal for a while.

The good thing here is that both Kendry and Estevao will have time to adapt and won't be needed immediately. The negative is that a lot of money has been spent on them so immediate pressure will form.

It took Vinicius Jr almost three full seasons at Real Madrid to show what the hype was about. It takes patience and skill to get to the dribbling menace (and world superstar) that he is. Chelsea haven't shown they're able to do that yet but starting with Kendry and Estevao would land them a big reward if they can.