Chelsea may have spent more than £500 million ($603 million) on new players, but unless they can win Europe in the near future, their first season under new ownership will come to a conclusion without any trophies.
The Blues, who are currently in 10th place in the Premier League and have already been eliminated from both domestic cups, travel to play Borussia Dortmund in the opening leg of their Champions League round of 16 matchup on Tuesday.
As they now lie 10 points outside of the top four in the English top division, winning the Champions League for a third time would even be Chelsea's best chance to return to the tournament next season.
Since the winter break in European football, Graham Potter's team has only won two of their past 12 games.
A long injury list, a flurry of January acquisitions, and maintaining cohesion in a bloated first-team group of 33 players have all been challenges for Potter.
For the remainder of his team's European campaign, the former Brighton manager already faced some difficult decisions.
Benoit Badiashile, Noni Madueke, Andrey Santos, and David Datro Fofana have been left out of Chelsea's Champions League squad owing to the club's restriction on adding new players, while Malo Gusto will return to Lyon for the remainder of the season on loan due to the club's eight new acquisitions.
three guys worth $100 million
But the three newcomers Joao Felix, Mykhailo Mudryk, and Enzo Fernandez should provide a team that is severely lacking in goal threat potency and a creative spark.
At some time in their careers, all three have demanded a 100 million euro ($107 million) price.
Just a few weeks before, Mudryk had been acquired from Shakhtar Donetsk for an initial 70 million euros with an option to increase that amount to 100 million euros. Fernandez's 121 million euro transfer from Benfica last month surpassed the British transfer record.
In three and a half years at Atletico Madrid, Felix failed to live up to his 126 million euro price tag, but he has shown promise in the early stages of his loan at Stamford Bridge, both before and after a three-game suspension for receiving a red card on his Premier League debut.
In Saturday's 1-1 draw against West Ham, the Portuguese international netted his first goal for the team after a beautiful cross from Fernandez. Felix's goal was just Chelsea's third in the previous seven games, however.
After Chelsea's promising start at the London Stadium swiftly faded, Potter stated, “The second half is perhaps more of a reflection of where we are as a group and as a club.”
In terms of players catching up, coming back from injuries, and adjusting to the Premier League.
Potter is aware that the patience of a fan base that became used to Roman Abramovich's hire-and-fire policy is waning.
Chelsea changed managers in the middle of each of the two seasons in which they won the Champions League throughout the course of the Russian's 19-year reign.
Chelsea has already accomplished that this year, with the replacement of Thomas Tuchel with Potter.
Potter's nine-game undefeated streak to begin his tenure as manager now feels like a distant memory because of the increased expectation to deliver results, even if the majority of Chelsea's record-breaking investment has been on young players.
Because it doesn't exist in this position, you can't discuss the long term, said Potter.
“You must understand that although the long term is important, achieving achievements in the short and medium times might be difficult for us.
We must be aware of this, approach Dortmund with respect and humility, and work to get the desired outcome.
If they fail to do so, Chelsea's American ownership group may hire a different manager to make back their investment.
