CHELSEA have a date for their transfer ban appeal and are certainly prepared for a mega January if allowed back into the market.
Frank Lampard is plotting a 150million raid to turn his young bucks into genuine title contenders.
Timo Werner, Wilfried Zaha and Ben Chilwell are all on the agenda with Lyon striker Moussa Dembele also reportedly on the Blues’ wishlist if the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturn their ban on November 20.
Their arrivals could be bad news for the youth revolution at Stamford Bridge.
Lampard currently deploys a 4-3-3 with Mason Mount, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori leading the academy’s incursion into the starting line-up.
Fortunately for centre-back Tomori, the boss doesn’t appear to be too interested in signing a replacement with Antonio Rudiger, Kurt Zouma and Andreas Christensen already constituting a solid roster in defence.
Mount, Abraham and Hudson-Odoi aren’t so lucky however, with Zaha and Werner directly threatening their places in the team.
Fans have already seen how 58million man Christian Pulisic has ousted teenage wing wizard Hudson-Odoi and the potential arrival of Zaha will relegate him further.
Werner landing from RB Leipzig complicates matters as well.
Olivier Giroud is heading for the exit door but will Chelsea pay big money for a Germany international only to sit him on the bench?
Perhaps most likely is Lampard looks for a way to play Werner and Abraham together, producing an attack-minded 4-4-2 with Jorginho and N’Golo Kante holding fort from midfield.
That leaves Mount as the odd man out – harsh considering the England international’s excellent start to the season.
But trophies are always the priority in west London and Lampard knows exactly that, having played in a very successful side that featured barely a couple of homegrown players.
