Chelsea's transfer strategy since the takeover of Todd Boehly and Blueco in 2022 is to say the least Scattergun.
The new property group has installed a clear recruitment plan – buy young players with a high potential, which it also costs.
The Burn and Churn policy means that Chelsea has many players in their books, which gives manager Enzo Maresca a huge headache.
Theitalian Coach has made it clear that he benefits a smaller and tighter team, so that players would be able to build understanding and momentum.
Yet the logic of having so many top scouts and sports directors dictated that more and more players will be brought into the club.
View every match of the Club World Cup 2025 Live on Dazn
They have reinforced their forward options since the end of the season with Liam Delap from Ipswich for £ 30 million, Joao Pedro from Brighton for £ 60 million, Jamie Gittens from Borussia Dortmund for £ 48 million and Estevao from Palmeiras for £ 52 million who all come to the club.
So how will Maresca navigate a road through this mess and find an attack that combines the old one with the new?
Boehly and the board spent another £ 190 million this summer on four attackers, and perhaps more players arrive at Stamford Bridge.
Our tactic expert Lee Scott looks at each of these players to understand how they fit in Chelsea next season.
Liam Delap
Although Ipswich was banned from the Premier League last season, it is fair to say that the international striker Liam Delap of England U21 was one of the most coveted strikers in the window.
There was a lot of interest in signing the former man City Academy player of Rivals Man United.
But it was Chelsea that moved the fastest to secure the player's signature for £ 30 million.
Last season, Delap finished with 13 goals and 3 assists in all competitions for a team that was relegated.
Compare that with Nicolas Jackson, the attacker who will probably replace Delap at Chelsea, who scored 13 goals and had 6 assists for a team that has created many more opportunities and crucial more of high quality.
Here we see an example of what Delap brings to Chelsea, in the Club World Cup game with Es Tunis.
He receives the broken pass from Enzo Fernandez who has found space between the fullback and the central defender of the nearby side.
As he takes the ball down, he contacts the fullback and keeps the player while he turns and drives the area before he ends up in style.
One of Jackson's biggest criticism is that the Senegalese striker would regularly miss the opportunities that seemed clear.
He is strong in transition and shows a good movement, but his last action was still relatively erratic and not consistent enough.
Delap, on the other hand, is an attacker who stupid the half chances and is much more likely to take advantage of crosses and balls that are played in the area.
The power of Delap is his ability to be a central point on the last line and to create shooting opportunities.
This is the aspect of his game that will be the most beneficial for Chelsea in terms of upgrading what they had in the position last season.
Delap offers a genuine presence in the penalty area of the opposition.
Here, while the ball is crossed to the distant post, we see the English striker alive and separate from defending players.
While the ball returns, he has an easy finish.
Delap probably starts the season as the most important striker for Chelsea, where Jackson falls on the couch.
Joao Pedro
The signing of the 23-year-old Brazilian Joao Pedro, for £ 60 million from Brighton, is a bit harder to read.
This is because it is difficult to decide what his best position is real.
He might be best described as a modern versatile attacker.
Although it looked great as a lonely striker with his two-goal performance against Fluminense in the World Cup club, he is best when playing in close relationship with others.
We believe that there is a chance that he will be seen as an option to play as the advanced attacking midfielder just behind Delap.
Last season, the Brazilian attacker ended the campaign with 10 goals and 7 assists such as this more creative forward type for Brighton.
Here we see the kind of casual creation that Chelsea fans can expect from Joao Pedro.
He initially takes possession of possession and drives into space.
He has the calmness to see the run from his side to the center of Yankuba Minth and he pushes a pass through the last rule to create a goalscores chance of opportunity.
Even when Joao Pedro played as a central striker in Brighton and in Watford, he showed a clear tendency to fall deeper to midfield and to look for space between the lines.
This is why we do not believe that he will play regularly as the No. 9, because Maresca needs a 9 that will play, such as Delap, on the last line threatening the space and pushes back the opposition defense line.
He moves the ball very well to find teammates and to take advantage of the space that the opposition leaves behind.
His technical level is extremely high and he effectively shifts the ball with speed and benefits from all spaces that are present in the opposition defense block.
This time we see Joao Pedro taking possession of the ball on the edge of the opposition area while Mitoma pulls the ball towards him.
While he receives the ball, there are two opposition players who immediately press.
The Brazilian international is intelligent enough to have the press developed before he can finish the ball to a teammate.
Joao Pedro will undoubtedly bring value to Chelsea that will start next season, although it is still to be seen how he will be used positively by Maresca that will start next season.
Jamie Gittens
The 20-year-old English U21 international Jamie Gittens has just moved to Chelsea from Borussia Dortmund in Germany.
He played for 2,803 minutes in all matches and he finished with 12 goals and 5 assists.
He is by nature with the right range and he usually plays as an attacking left wing.
Chelsea struggled last season for consistent production of their wing players, where Noni Madueke was demonstrably the best wide attacker they had.
Now Madueke seems to be for sale with different clubs that show a lot of interest, because Chelsea may make room to make room for their newcomers.
Gittens is a broad attacker who is at his best when he gets the ball in positions where he can dribble and look at the defenders of opposition in 1v1 situations.
Here we see that Gittens receives the ball wide in a position where he is confronted 1v1 against the opposition.
He immediately takes the ball and looks at.
He is well balanced with fast feet that offer a real threat in terms of surpassing the defender on the inside or the outside.
Gittens is still not the completed article, but he is a young attacking player with real and real potential.
If he develops well, he could offer the point of difference in terms of having a real 1V1 threat that Chelsea missed last season. They were often too predictable when receiving the ball wide and Gittens is anything but predictable.
He offers a threat in the field of shooting, because he has a clear tendency to drive in and even when defenders know that this is what he wants to do, they are still struggling to stop him.
Again, here we see him receiving the ball in a position where he can immediately be confronted with the opposition -defender in a 1V1 situation.
Although he is well balanced and can attack on the outside, he wants to create a maximum threat and go inside to a position where he can shoot at goal.
Despite the fact that Gittens has not yet been fully developed, we still believe that there is a chance that he will start the new season as the first choice left -sided attacker for Chelsea.
Estevao
The most exciting of the newcomers is the most difficult to predict in this phase of his development.
Chelsea quickly moved to secure the signing of 18-year-old Brazilian international winger Estevao from Palmeiras.
The younger debuted as a 16-year-old and started to attract very quickly.
Now Chelsea has defeated the competition for his signature.
Estevao is a left -wing attacking player who best profiles as a right -sided attacking winger with his ability to come in and create threat when he comes in.
He is a dangerous dribbler, but he is at his most dangerous in the last third part in positions where he can take the ball and come in to create shooting opportunities for himself.
Here we see that Estevao actually score against Chelsea in the club World Cup.
He is intelligently placed in the canal and while he receives the pass, he immediately pushes the ball forward before he then ends with force at the nearby post.
It is still to be seen whether Estevao is an immediate starter at Chelsea or whether he will make a backup of Cole Palmer or even spend his first season in Europe in France with Strasbourg.
However, if he stays with Chelsea and if he gets the first team minutes, he has the quality to contribute.
This time we see the young Brazilian international in a broad position to stretch the field and find space on the outside of the opposition defense.
The only thing needed is a long pass to release Estevao in space while he drives forward and eventually scores in the opposition area.
He is intelligent in his positioning and in the runs he makes.
When playing with more technical and intelligent players at Chelsea, he will probably have a real impact if he gets the chance to do this.
Conclusion
Chelsea and their property know the way we do now, there is little doubt that their signing sessions are not completed for next season.
We will probably continue to see them active in the market as they strengthen and add more young talent.
However, with the four attacking players who have been added so far, there is little doubt that they have given Maresca more options next season.