Chelsea ended up starting this season with a few too many players in certain areas on the pitch.
It looked rather inevitable that at least three first team players would be leaving the club on permanent deals over the summer, but that never transpired.
As a result, Frank Lampard ended up with three left backs who would consider themselves first team players, as well as five centre backs in the same situation.
It was surprising, but it was not for a lack of trying, according to a new report from The Athletic.
They fail to name the players, but the report claims that Chelsea had deals in place to sell two first team players right up until a few days before the October deadline day, but both deals fell through right at the last minute.
They believe that Chelsea would have done more to try and sign Declan Rice from West Ham if both these deals had gone though.
