With a couple of weeks left until the transfer window closed and so many players left for Chelsea to sell or loan, if felt impossible that they would get through them all.
Well… so it proved. They managed to get some of the top earners of the books, and finding a new home for Kepa Arrizabalaga, Romelu Lukaku and Raheem Sterling will be seen as a victory, but plenty of others remain.
Chief among them – in terms of stature as well as wages – is Ben Chilwell. He’s been told in no uncertain terms he’s not got a place in this squad, but no move was found. In fact, none ever seemed close. There were some very vague claims about Manchester United, but nothing convincing.
What next for England left back
Ben Jacobs’ piece for GiveMeSport makes it very clear that Chilwell is now set for a tricky time. He’s “not a positional fit” for Enzo Maresca, and is behind even the pretty shaky looking Renato Veiga so far, simply because the Portuguese is better at “inverting” into midfield.
Jacobs claims that there’s a chance Chilwell could still move on loan in Europe – to either the Netherlands, Portugal or Turkey. He claims that “Chilwell has been offered to Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce,” after they sold their left back to Brighton earlier in the summer.
That’s a fun idea… as is the idea of Ben Chilwell at Benfica or Ajax tearing it up. If he’s really not got a chance of playing, we hope he at least gets a fun European move we can enjoy following along with.
But crucially, Chilwell “is content to stay at Stamford Bridge,” if the right opportunity doesn’t come along.
