Raphinha problem, Ousmane Dembele latest and the issue Thomas Tuchel faces in Chelsea rebuild

"There is plenty going on behind the scenes; that is inevitable given the purchase of the club was only completed two weeks ago! There are plenty of off-field priorities to work through – season tickets, next season's kit, commercial deals, reassuring employees – in addition to the rebuild of Thomas Tuchel's squad.

"I appreciate many supporters want, and perhaps even expected, a flurry of signings as soon as the takeover was completed. Yet that was hugely unlikely in truth, especially given the uncertainty around so many members of Tuchel's squad. There are still big decisions to be made over potential outgoings."

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In terms of a major update, sadly not. Chelsea remain in talks with Dembele's representatives and the Frenchman does appear to be open to a move to Stamford Bridge – where he would reunite with Thomas Tuchel. But as yet, a contract hasn't been agreed."

Pre-sanctions, Chelsea put in some groundwork in terms of a deal for Raphinha. A big part of the reason for that was had Leeds gone down – as looked likely in February – the Brazilian would've been able to leave Elland Road for around £20million. That would've been a bargain price.

"However, Leeds staying up has resulted in the price for Raphinha being set at around the £60million mark and that is a huge fee for Chelsea to pay given they currently have a large number of attackers already on their books. That remains a problem and I feel that is something that is going to have to be sorted before a new player – barring Dembele because of his contract situation – is brought into the frontline."

"The problem Chelsea constantly face when trying to move on fringe players is that many are on good money – and they know they will not get the same at their next club.