CHELSEA have the freedom to sign players after their transfer ban was lifted ahead of the January window.
With £150million reportedly at their disposal this month, the Blues are reportedly eyeing potential deals with the likes of Jadon Sancho, Wilfried Zaha and Timo Werner.
As manager, Frank Lampard is heavily involved in the decision-making process.
And he is supported by Marina Granovskaia, Petr Cech and Scott McLachlan, with Lampard making it clear that it is a “joint effort”.
The Blues boss will unsurprisingly be right in the thick of the transfer dealings when he brings in his first signings to Stamford Bridge.
Forced to stick with the players already at the club when he joined, he has had six months to work out where he wants to strengthen.
He refused to be drawn in to commenting on specific targets, such as Zaha after the draw with Brighton, but is ultimately the man who will be working with any new recruits each day on the training ground and hoping their performances on matchdays can secure Champions League football again next season.
Speaking of the transfer guru group, Lampard said: “We are joined up in terms that I have very close conversations with Marina, very close conversations with Petr Cech and Scott, who is the head of our recruitment department.
“They know what I want and I will be fundamentally in the middle of who and what we bring into the club. As it stands we are very open about that.
“If it feels right from my side on the footballing point in January, from the club side on the club point in January, then we will make the moves we make. It is a joined-up effort.”
Granovskaia has been a key part of Roman Abramovich’s real inner circle for the best part of two decades, through his entire Chelsea reign.
She is trusted with his money, negotiating the final details of plenty of deals in recent years including those of Frank Lampard’s arrival and Eden Hazard’s sale to Real Madrid in the summer.
With Abramovich an absentee landlord and even more so since the departure of sporting director Michael Emenalo in 2017, Granovskaia holds plenty of the power.
She lets chairman Bruce Buck do the public talking – although she is often pictured when stars sign new contracts – but is now one of the most powerful women in football – every major decision at the club goes through her.
After 11 years between the sticks at Stamford Bridge, it is safe to say former goalkeeper Cech knows a thing or two about Chelsea.
He saw countless players come and go and played under eight different managers – after four years at Arsenal, he hung up his gloves and returned to West London in June as the Blues’ performance and technical advisor.
As reported after his arrival, Cech will not have the final say when it comes to transfers or contracts but will offer up his thoughts and suggestions to Granovskaia and Lampard.
Upon his appointment, he said: “I’m looking forward to the new challenge and hope I can use all of my football knowledge and experience to help the team achieve even more success in the future.”
McLachlan is head of international scouting at Chelsea. That therefore means he is heavily involved with finding new recruits and offering them as suggested signings to the rest of the group.
He previously worked at Wimbledon, Northampton, Southampton – where he was head of performance analysis – and Fulham before joining the Blues in August 2011.
He too benefited from Emenalo’s departure, earning a promotion to his current role.
McLachlan describes himself as “passionate and enthused by all aspects of scouting and the challenge of merging modern and traditional talent identification models”.
And it will be down to him and his team to identify the players that meet Lampard’s brief.
Surely he has been using all his contacts and resources to try and find a new left-back for the club this month with Marcos Alonso and Emerson struggling and Ben Chilwell unlikely to leave Leicester mid-season.
