Chelsea's transfer spending during the 2022/23 season has been quite extraordinary.
The Blues were purchased by a consortium headed up by American businessman and investor Todd Boehly in May 2022, ending the 19-year ownership of Roman Abramovich, and it quickly became apparent that freshening things up at Stamford Bridge was high on the agenda.
Well over £500m later and Chelsea have drafted 16 first-team players into the club, eight of whom arrived in the January transfer window.
The amount of money spent has put huge pressure on the shoulders of head coach Graham Potter, but there's bound to be significant pressure put on the players themselves as Chelsea look to climb the Premier League table after a desperately disappointing first half of the season.
So who will make the greatest impact and who should be perceived as the best bits of business concluded by Boehly and his rather expansive chequebook?
8. David Datro Fofana
£8m is all Ivory Coast striker David Datro Fofana set Chelsea back, though he's very much viewed as a signing for the future.
The 20-year-old arrived from Molde on New Year's Day and debuted against Manchester City in Chelsea's FA Cup drubbing four days later. There wasn't much Fofana could have done about it in truth and there's probably more chance of him making an impact next season rather than during the current campaign.
Football Manager reckons he's pretty good, mind.
7. Joao Felix
Chelsea's decision to splash out close to £10m on a six-month loan for Joao Felix was interesting to say the least.
That's not to say that Felix isn't an exceptionally talented player - because he is - but more because he's not really the mould of forward Chelsea needed. So to repay the club's faith in him - and that rather expensive loan fee - the Portuguese got himself sent off on debut against Fulham with a terrible knee-high lunge, earning a three-match ban in the process.
Oh.
6. Noni Madueke
Noni Madueke's arrival for just shy of £30m is another transfer that goes down in the category of 'Was that really necessary?'
Again, that's not to say Madueke isn't a talented winger, because he's shown during his time at PSV Eindhoven that he's a class young player. Praised for his understanding of the game at such a young age, Madueke has shown great versatility in the early years of his career and has an absolute wand of a left foot.
If anything, he's the reason Chelsea were so willing to ship off Hakim Ziyech to PSG (we won't dwell on what happened there...).
5. Malo Gusto
You'll notice that the common denominator for all of these Chelsea signings is that they are young and destined to improve.
That's certainly what 19-year-old right-back Malo Gusto is going to do, having exploded onto the Ligue 1 scene with French giants Lyon. He's so good in fact that Laurent Blanc was desperate not to lose him in January and the only way a deal was going to be done with the club's president Jean-Michel Aulas was to agree to send Gusto back on loan.
Chelsea have; that's where he'll stay and his attempts to challenge Reece James for a starting berth must wait.
4. Andrey Santos
There's not a great deal known about Chelsea's new Brazilian Andrey Santos, other than scouts believe he could be the brightest young midfielder in the country.
That's some praise considering Brazil have a raft of fine young players bursting onto the scene right now, and testament to Santos' performances for Vasco de Gama in Brazil's second tier.
Chelsea's weak spot this season has been the fragility of their midfield and that's something Santos may help to address, though again you'd imagine it won't be immediately - particularly as he may face a battle to get a work permit.
3. Mykhailo Mudryk
Arsenal's very public pursuit of Ukrainian winger Mykhailo Mudryk was only ever going to go one way - in the favour of Todd Boehly and Chelsea.
From out of nowhere, the Blues agreed to stump up the £88m asking price Shakhtar Donetsk had put on his head (£62m of that initially) and suddenly Mudryk was destined for west London instead of north.
The 22-year-old's electrifying performances in the Champions League prove he has talent, while a short cameo against Liverpool was also pretty impressive. Value for money may be a stretch, but the ceiling and potential of Mudryk could make this a very good bit of business.
2. Enzo Fernandez
Chelsea's midfield has looked tired, leggy and bereft of creativity for most of the season, and those issues have played a big part in their rather iffy first half of the campaign.
The Blues are only just in the top half of the Premier League - 29 points and 22 goals isn't a great return for a team who spent over £250m of their season's outlay in the summer - and Potter hasn't been able to find a formula to turn things around.
In Fernandez, Chelsea have acquired one of world football's hottest midfield properties, fresh off the back of winning the World Cup with Argentina. The £107m fee will raise almost every eyebrow in the world, but there was something in Fernandez's performances in Qatar that hinted he's a special talent.
Why else would Benfica president Rui Costa be so adamant that Benfica receive his full £105m release clause and some?
1. Benoit Badiashile
Ranking a centre-back as Chelsea's most impressive bit of January business? Really? Are we actually doing that?
Yes, yes we are. And the reason for that is because Benoit Badiashile has already taken to Premier League football like a duck to water, making his £33m fee look like peanuts in comparison to some of his more illustrious teammates.
The Frenchman has buddied up with experienced old head Thiago Silva in a back four and has offered a calming reassurance and consistency that Kalidou Koulibaly simply wasn't able to in the first half of the season. Chelsea look a hell of a lot more secure because of it, with Badiashile likely to be the cornerstone of the club's defence in the years to come (alongside Wesley Fofana when he's fit).
Source : 90min