Chelsea hadn't messed around this summer. With the appointment of Mauricio Pochettino, a world-class manager, and a whole host of talent acquired to their squad, it felt like the Blues were heading back to their former best.
Yet, after breaking the bank on the likes of Romeo Lavia and Moises Caicedo, to name a few, they currently find themselves in an unsatisfactory mid-table position with three defeats from their opening eight matches.
While Pochettino will be given time to mould the squad how he wants it, patience on their current stars could wear thin if significant ground hasn't been made on the Champions League places come January, which could lead to more mass spending.
Unsurprisingly, a whole host of stars have already been touted with a winter move to Stamford Bridge, and one of Europe's brightest young talents, Jamal Musiala, is the latest name to be linked.
Are Chelsea interested in Jamal Musiala?
A graduate of Chelsea's youth academy, who departed the club for Bayern Munich aged 16, would make a huge U-turn on his career if he was to return to Stamford Bridge.
According to 90min, Premier League clubs are showing an interest in Musiala, including Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea.
The report details that Bayern remain confident of tying the 20-year-old down to a long-term contract, however, with several clubs enquiring about his availability, a potential bidding war could ensue.
Currently valued at €92.3m (£80m) according to Football Transfers and with another three years left on his contract, the Blues will need to splash the cash in order to lure him to west London, either in January or next summer.
What would Jamal Musiala bring to Chelsea?
One of Chelsea's most fateful mistakes was allowing Musiala to depart for Bayern in 2019 after failing to convince the youngster to commit his future to the London club.
All will be forgiven, however, if the Blues manage to pull off a sensational move to prise the youngster away from Germany and back to England.
The attacking midfield sensation, who has been nominated for the prestigious Golden Boy Award, is the shining light of a German side crying out for a rebuild and an unwavering cog of Bayern's merciless winning machine.
Combining his electric pace and remarkable dribbling to a devastating effect, the youngster has been compared to the great Lionel Messi for how he carries the ball in perpetual motion, breezing past defenders like the ball is stuck to his feet and supplying a relentless end product to match.
With an astonishing 12 goals and 13 assists in 33 Bundesliga matches last term, Musiala showcased why the footballing world is salivating over his talents, seamlessly slotting into pockets of space and appearing to be the perfect heir to Muller's throne.
Lauded as a "future Ballon d'Or" winner by teammate Alphonso Davies for how he's dominated on the world stage at just 20-years-old, Musiala has shown that his potential is limitless.
The youngster's former coach, Andre Martin, reinforced the above back in 2021, saying: "Technically outstanding, very skillful, and a player who can score all types of goals, inside and outside the box. And he's a great dribbler and likes to take players on, as he did against Schalke. He later became a No.10 and has become as much of a creator as a goalscorer."
The description of his qualities suggests that Chelsea must reverse the mistake they made four years ago and go all out to sign one of the best young talents on the planet.