The transfer window slammed shut yesterday with a quiet day for Chelsea.
In terms of incomings, the Blues got a lot of their moves done early and made sure that they were in a good position before the 2020/21 campaign got going.
Deadline day was more about players heading out, but it was even quiet on that front with the only big move being Ruben Loftus-Cheek heading to Fulham on loan.
But how did our football.london writers rate Chelsea’s transfer window?
Oliver Harbord
There is no doubt that Chelsea have had one of the most exciting and impressive transfer windows out of all the Premier League clubs.
Not only did they do their business early, but it was wasn’t just squad players who came into the side, but top quality first team players.
Snapping up Hakim Ziyech, Timo Werner, Kai Havertz, Ben Chilwell and Thiago Silva are real shows of intent.
With the signing of Edouard Mendy, the Blues might well have sorted out the goalkeeper issues they have been suffering with Kepa Arrizabalaga.
There will be a lot of focus on the fees spent, with more than £200million coming from Roman Abramovich to fund the Lampard revolution.
And that is were the pressure and attention is now going to be fixed on the Blues boss and whether or not he can get the very best out of his new talent.
There might also be a question mark over where another centre-back should have been brought in, but that can come in future windows.
The one disappointment might be the players who haven’t left the club, though, with Lampard having more in the squad than needed.
Not moving on Antonio Rudiger, Marcos Alonso or Emerson Palmieri means there are a lot of players for Lampard to have to deal with.
But as for incomings, Chelsea have put down a real marker for the future, and now it’s about delivering with results.
Alan Smith
There can be no dispute: Chelsea have had the best transfer window of any Premier League side. Perhaps in all of Europe.
But with that comes another level of pressure for Frank Lampard and a young squad that still has plenty of teething problems.
The most impressive thing was how swiftly they got the bulk of their business completed. Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner were acquired long before the window opened.
The foundations for Ben Chilwell’s £45million signing from Leicester City were set early and, despite a number of delays, confidence of signing Kai Havertz from Bayer Leverkusen never really wavered.
The free agent deal for Thiago Silva was acted on decisively and is relatively low cost, while Edouard Mendy’s deal was still done with plenty of time to spare despite Rennes initially playing hard ball over the fee, eventually settling on £22million.
Just because deadline day was a damp squib should not change that – although it will be curious to see how Lampard handles such a big squad and a number of players who were eager to move on in search of regular minutes.
A couple can still head to Championship clubs over the next two weeks but players such as Toni Rudiger will not be ending up in the second tier. Instead he will be left fighting for minutes.
Now it is up to Lampard to figure out his best XI – no easy task going off the opening weeks of the campaign.
Roman Abramovich may be more patient over this particular head coach but he has still sanctioned a quarter of a billion on new players and therefore will expect success soon.
Follow our socials Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Google News.
