Frank Lampard was on holiday in America when news broke of the Roman Abramovich take-over at Chelsea.
By the time he was back for pre-season training, the place was brimming with new talent and megastars such as Ronaldinho and Andriy Shevchenko were being linked.
This was pre-Financial Fair Play and Abramovich spent a staggering £290million on 19 new players in his first 15 months. Adjusted for inflation this is about £450m today, yet still Lampard flourished.
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has sanctioned a host of expensive signings in this window
Manager Frank Lampard will benefit from a host of high-profile additions to his squad
Bayer Leverkusen star Kai Havertz is poised to become Chelsea’s next signing for £90million
Who better, in that case, to be at the wheel when Chelsea complete the signing of Kai Havertz from Bayer Leverkusen for a club-record £90m and establish a new high for spending by a Premier League club in a single window?
Havertz follows Hakim Ziyech, Timo Werner and Ben Chilwell, four players recruited by the west London club at a combined fee of around £230m.
Throw in the acquisitions of Thiago Silva and Malang Sarr, signed on free transfers last week, and Abramovich is back in the realms of 2003. Chelsea have splurged on transfers at a rate of more than a million a day since Ziyech’s deal was struck with Ajax in February.
There are six more weeks before the market closes and there are live targets still in play such as Declan Rice at West Ham.
The club’s last accounts recorded a loss of more than £100m yet Chelsea are able to make financial sense of it.
Hakim Ziyech has made the switch from Ajax, with the talented winger costing £37million
Another new arrival at Stamford Bridge is forward Timo Werner, who cost £53million
England international left-back Ben Chilwell joined Chelsea from Leicester for £50million
They did not spend at all in January and, last summer, under a FIFA ban, could only convert loan signing Mateo Kovacic into a £40m move.
Since then, they have banked more than £100m from the sale of Eden Hazard to Real Madrid and another £50m for Alvaro Morata’s move to Atletico Madrid, which became a permanent transfer this summer.
Outgoings helped reduce the wage bill, including well-paid senior players David Luiz, Pedro and Willian.
In the midst of the pandemic, UEFA have agreed to ease the restrictions on FFP and proposed changes to the loan system, due to have been introduced by FIFA this year, have been delayed, offering Chelsea’s accountants more flexibility.
Vastly-experienced former Paris Saint-Germain defender Thiago Silva arrived on free transfer
Talented young French defender Malang Sarr, who was previously at Nice, joined for free
New defender Sarr, coveted by Newcastle and others as he ran down his contract at Nice, is to go on loan and versatile England defender Fikayo Tomori will command interest and a good fee if he spends this season out on loan.
The business model at the Bridge relies heavily on profit from player trading and the ability of director Marina Granovskaia to generate fees for those players surplus to requirements.
Tiemoue Bakayoko, Michy Batshuayi and Danny Drinkwater will be up for sale or loan, as will left backs Marcos Alonso and Emerson.
Perhaps, too, Ross Barkley and one centre half from Antonio Rudiger, Kurt Zouma and Andreas Christensen.
Chelsea have other targets such as their former player Declan Rice, who could cost £80m
Chelsea’s ability to resell unwanted players has enabled them to compete more closely with the Manchester clubs, the big spenders since the numbers catapulted into another orbit after the £9billion TV rights deal of 2016.
Chelsea’s last big spree came in the summer of 2017 when they squandered more than £180m attempting to strengthen while champions under Antonio Conte.
Morata, Bakayoko, Drinkwater and Davide Zappacosta came in. None made an impact. Barkley, Emerson and Olivier Giroud followed in the January. Conte’s complaints about the recruitment strategy got him sacked and replaced by Maurizio Sarri, and another £120m spent on Jorginho and Kepa Arrizabalaga.
It is often the way at Stamford Bridge, where ambitious signings can go wrong — as Shevchenko and Fernando Torres can testify.
If you are going to splurge, make it count. That is the motto.
Lampard will feel the pressure to make sure Chelsea’s record investment is not wasted. He will be expected to contest the big prizes and his young players, those academy graduates who impressed last season, must rise to the challenge.
Mason Mount, arguably the pick of them, will compete with Havertz for a place and Tammy Abraham, top scorer last season, will have to fight with Werner.
Lampard knuckled down and became not only a better player amid the ferocious competition but a legend of their most glorious era. He is the perfect example as Chelsea try to close the gap at the top without losing the identity they forged with this gifted generation of homegrown players.