Thomas Tuchel has already identified the £6.3m answer to Chelsea's transfer deadline day issue

It was during pre-season that Thomas Tuchel and his coaching staff decided to count the number of players they'd be working with the following day. The number they came to was something of a shock.

“We wrote the names down and had 42 players in the building, that’s just not possible," Tuchel stated after Chelsea's friendly against Tottenham at Stamford Bridge.

“So from then on, we had to make some decisions to provide quality and intelligent training for the three groups who belong to us. And at the same time to select players we want to know better."

Tuchel would trim his first-team squad further as the end of the summer transfer window loomed. Yet come deadline day, there were three senior players whose futures were still far from certain.

One of those was Malang Sarr, the centre-back who had joined Chelsea on a free transfer from Nice one year earlier. Sarr had spent the 2020/21 campaign on loan at Porto but played as many minutes for their B side as the first team.

There was interest in the French defender from Germany; newly-promoted Bundesliga side Greuther Furth made an approach. But the deal collapsed late on and Sarr, through little fault of his own, had to remain at Chelsea.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek, meanwhile, had looked sharp in pre-season but was allowed to leave if a suitable loan offer arrived at Chelsea's door. It was a similar situation with Ross Barkley, who had lost his squad number to Mateo Kovacic and was available for transfer.

Yet come September 1, each one of that trio remained at Chelsea and that meant Tuchel had a decision to make. He either ostracised them and sent the three players to work with the Development Squad or he welcomed them into the first-team fold with open arms.

Tuchel went for