Not content with being crowned 'world champions' just a few short weeks ago, Enzo Maresca clearly feels that there are improvements that can and should be made.
Who is calling the shots at Chelsea?
Or is it actually Clearlake that are calling the shots and insisting that some more financial jiggery-pokery needs to be invoked in order for the Blues to stay on the right side of Financial Fair Play?
Whatever the truth, there are likely to be outgoings as well as incomings if everything aligns as the west London club would hope.
One of those could be striker, Nicolas Jackson. The same Nicolas Jackson that still has eight years left of a nine-year Chelsea contract!
In the past two seasons, the Senegalese has blown hot and cold, but his 30 goals and 12 assists during that time is only bettered by Cole Palmer's 43 goals and 28 assists. Jackson has also hit the woodwork on another nine occasions, which would've brought him within four goals of Palmer's total.
No other Chelsea player comes close to that pair in terms of their attacking prowess, so it begs the question as to why it appears the club are willing to let Jackson move on.
New faces have shunted Nico Jackson aside
Perhaps it's the knowledge that in Joao Pedro and Liam Delap, Maresca has two different but perfectly good strikers that he's happy with, and who will give the Blues more of an edge than Jackson has during his short time at the club.
His potential sale is another warning to Chelsea's current stars of course, that they are just pawns in the wider game that the club appear to be playing.
There isn't and hasn't been any continuity in terms of playing staff since Clearlake took over the club, with every transfer window affording them the opportunity of moving their various players around, be that to Strasbourg or elsewhere.
At the same time, the sheer volume of incoming players changes the entire make-up of the squad.
This summer alone Pedro, Delap, Estevao, Jorrel Hato, Jamie Gittens, Dario Essugo, Mamadou Sarr and Kendry Paez have all signed up, whilst Noni Madueke, Joao Felix, Djordje Petrovic, Lesley Ugochukwu, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Armando Broja, Mathis Amougou, Bashir Humphreys, Kepa Arrizabalaga and Marcus Bettinelli have all been sold - and that's before we even take all of the loan signings or free transfers into account.
Selling Jackson is counter-productive
With a shot accuracy as high as 65.1% during his first season at Stamford Bridge, Jackson certainly knows where the goal is, and his better than one-in-three goals-to-games ratio would back that up.
A 76.7% pass completion in last season's Premier League isn't the best, however the striker is handsomely remunerated for putting the ball in the back of the net, not for his passing prowess.
He's a player that has long since settled into Maresca's style of play and thrived within it, so losing the striker does appear a little counter-productive at this point.
The stumbling block to a move to potential suitors Aston Villa would appear to be Chelsea's current valuation, which is reported at being somewhere between the £60m-£80m mark.
At this late stage, the Midlands-based outfit need to be acutely aware of their PSR obligations, which makes a permanent transfer all but impossible this summer.
A loan deal with option to buy could make sense even if that's not Chelsea's preference, with a reported £10m fee for the loan potentially acceptable in the interim.
Aston Villa interest emerges
In the same time frame (2023/24 to 2024/25), Ollie Watkins has plundered 44 goals for Villa as well as 27 assists, though the only other marksman to score anything like an acceptable amount - Jhon Duran, 20 goals - is now plying his trade at Fenerbahce after a short-lived spell at Saudi Pro League side, Al Nassr.
The England international's 74.2% pass completion is even worse than Jackson's, but he is lauded by the Villa faithful for his goalscoring. Without that, Unai Emery's side might not have made it into Europe these past couple of seasons.
Indeed, his xG of 15.38 is far in excess of Jackson's 12.33, so it would seem fairly clear that the latter would be coming in to supplement Watkins rather than replacing him. Anything other than that precise scenario wouldn't make an awful lot of sense either.
The one thing that isn't clear at the moment is just what Jackson thinks of the entire charade.
"I am feeling very good and am very happy to sign a new contract and stay at the club," the 23-year-old said when signing his contract extension in September 2024. "It feels great the club has confidence in me. I am working very hard. I am very happy to extend my contract and stay here for many years."
It's hard to imagine those sentiments have changed in the space of 12 months, however, such is the speed at which modern football moves these days.
Loyalty, it seems, is a thing of the past.
