The eyebrow-raising, last-minute deals which saw Marcos Alonso and David Luiz sign for Chelsea on deadline day had an element of desperation about them.
It's clear that neither player was anywhere near the top of Antonio Conte's shopping list -- if indeed they were on it all when the Italian first drew up his plans to revitalise the flagging squad following his appointment in April.
Having paid Fiorentina £23 million for 25-year-old left-back Alonso, a player whose unspectacular career to date includes stints at Bolton and Sunderland, Chelsea then signed 29-year-old centre-back David Luiz from Paris Saint-Germain for £32m.
So what now?
Conte has already displayed the type of ruthless streak needed to address the torpor that riddled the Stamford Bridge dressing room last season. Cesc Fabregas has found himself to be the first high-profile casualty. A regular place on the bench followed by a January transfer window exit seems likely for the Spain international, given Conte's clear preference to pair £30m summer signing N'Golo Kante with Nemanja Matic in the midfield engine room.
Successive victories over West Ham, Watford and Burnley have given Conte the best possible start in the league, but without the luxury of a typically feeble Champions League group stage opposition to provide opportunities to tinker with his starting XI, the Italian is left with just EFL Cup matches in which to experiment. Having made a meal of beating lowly Bristol Rovers at home in the last round of the competition, Chelsea travel Leicester City later this month.
Will Conte use the match against the Foxes to hand first starts to Alonso and Luiz -- or will he have already done so in the Premier League? Chelsea's kind start to the season continues this weekend with a trip to Swansea, who have won one and lost two of their opening encounters. Thereafter the Blues' defence could face a stern examination of its resilience in the shape of matches against Liverpool and Arsenal.
The acquisition of Alonso suggests Conte would like to field Cesar Azpilicueta at right full-back, his natural side. But there's a curious deja vu aspect to this possibility which suggests things may not play out this way. In July 2014, Chelsea paid Atletico Madrid £15.8m for the services of specialist left-back Filipe Luis, who had been nominated as the best defender in La Liga. Luis couldn't usurp Azpilicueta from the left-back berth as then-manager Jose Mourinho remained settled on playing Branislav Ivanovic at right-back.
A year later, Luis returned to Atletico for an undisclosed fee and Chelsea signed Ghana international left-back Baba Rahman from Bundesliga side Augsburg for an initial £14m and almost £10m in contractual add-ons. In a torrid campaign, Mourinho was sacked and Rahman failed to break through. The 22-year old also failed to impress Conte in preseason and is now back in Germany on loan at Schalke.
Will Alonso be the first specialist left-back signed by the club since the legendary Ashley Cole to nail down an immediate and regular first-team place, or will Conte persist with the current Azpilicueta / Ivanovic arrangement and view the new man as a squad player?
Continued concerns over 32-year-old Ivanovic's problems dealing with pace and those looming fixtures against Liverpool and Arsenal, teams bristling with attacking prowess, suggest Conte has a big call to make -- and the Chelsea manager's life is further complicated by the arrival of Luiz.
The Brazilian's theatrical and somewhat erratic defensive displays are as well-documented as Conte's preference for playing three central defenders with two wing-backs buccaneering forward to provide ammunition for two strikers -- a template he has yet to utilise in this country.
Does Conte plan to field Luiz as a ball-playing enabler alongside long-established centre-back duo Gary Cahill and veteran skipper John Terry to facilitate this? With his 36th birthday looming, Terry is at risk from fatigue and injury. Given Luiz's issues with concentration, as a defensive combination, this trio has a jittery look about it that could buckle against top class opposition.
Then there is Kurt Zouma to factor into the equation. The 21-year-old France international broke through into Chelsea's first team under Mourinho and would certainly have been ahead of one of Cahill or Terry at the time of Conte's appointment had injury not cut short his season.
Ivanovic, Alonso, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Terry, Zouma and Luiz. What will Conte do when he reshapes his defence? The exclusion of Fabregas is evidence enough of the Italian's single-mindedness when it comes to the pursuit of his version of excellence, but maybe that was an easier call to make given the abilities of Kante and Matic.
Such astute stubbornness could bring with it more surprises should Conte decide neither Alonso or Luiz are a perfect fit for his exacting purposes.