Inside Chelsea’s £317m transfer window as crazy deadline day raises Enzo Maresca concern

Chelsea spent a whopping £317million – including add-ons – on incomings over the course of the 2025 summer transfer window.

The window reached its conclusion on Monday evening, at 7pm, with the Blues typically busy on the final day. In came Facundo Buonanotte from Brighton on a season-long loan deal, with the Blues paying the Seagulls £2million for the 20-year-old’s services for the remainder of the campaign. The signing of Buonanotte – which came as a surprise to pretty much everyone – came after Chelsea opted not to make an official offer for Xavi Simons.

The Blues were long-term admirers of Simons and had a broad agreement on personal terms with the Netherlands international for well over a month, football.london understand; but the club decided not to bid for him and Tottenham seized the opportunity. There was interest in Fermin Lopez from Barcelona as an alternative to Simons, with the Blues reaching out to the Spaniard’s entourage to gauge whether he would be up for moving to Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea, though, realised late in the window that the signing of Lopez would be difficult and complicated, not least because of Barca’s desire to keep hold of the 22-year-old attacker. Instead, Chelsea moved for Buonanotte on a much cheaper deal, while Strasbourg signed Julio Enciso from Brighton as well, with a view to the latter becoming a Blues player in he future.

While all this was going on over the course of deadline day, the real story was Nicolas Jackson. Let’s start from the beginning: Chelsea signed Liam Delap in June from Ipswich Town for £30million, with the Blues looking to add depth to their attacking line. Delap represented his new club in the FIFA Club World Cup in the United States, helping the west Londoners become world champions.

Later in the competition, Chelsea paid Brighton £55million – plus a potential £5million in add-ons – for Joao Pedro. The Brazilian was signed with the view of being a versatile attacker. Chelsea wanted to head into the season with two out-and-out No.9s – Delap and Jackson – as well as a versatile forward, that they now had in Joao Pedro.

However, Jackson informed Chelsea of his desire to explore his options in early August. While the Blues were happy to keep the 24-year-old striker around, they would equally not stand in his way if they got the right offer for his services. From then on out, Chelsea were seeking a permanent solution for Jackson, but their price tag seemed to scare away potential suitors.

Aston Villa, Newcastle United and Napoli all showed a keen interest in the Senegal international, but Bayern Munich put the most effort in. Jackson was immediately attracted to Bayern when learning about their interest, but negotiations were not straightforward.

Saturday proved to be a chaotic day for those involved in the Jackson deal. The Blues and Bayern Munich had agreed a deal to see Jackson move to the Allianz Arena on an initial loan, with the Bundesliga champions having the option to buy the striker the following summer. Chelsea then gave Jackson permission to fly to Munich to finalise the transfer.

However, Delap suffered a hamstring injury early into the win against Fulham a few hours later. Enzo Maresca confirmed after the match that the £30million signing was set for several weeks on the sidelines due to the injury – leaving Chelsea short in the No.9 position.

Chelsea then called Bayern and informed the German club that they would be pulling the plug on Jackson’s loan deal. This left Jackson and his camp very unhappy – and they were unwilling to accept the move being terminated as such. Jackson remained in Munich hopeful of a resolution.

Ali Barat, Jackson’s agent, led negotiations to try and salvage a deal and he was successful. With Chelsea recalling Marc Guiu from his loan at Sunderland, the club were willing to once again sanction Jackson’s exit. Bayern reached an agreement on deadline day afternoon for Jackson to join, once again on loan, but this time with an obligation attached to make the deal permanent next summer.

The Blues were initially supposed to receive £12.97million for the loan fee, but that has now increased to £14.2million. £56.2million was the fee for the option in the initial deal, and that remains the same with the obligation.

While Jackson will be pleased the move finally went through, there are a couple of concerns for Maresca, especially given the depth up front. Joao Pedro and Guiu look to be Chelsea’s only real No.9 options.

With Chelsea opting against signing Jadon Sancho permanently, the club were on the hunt for a couple of left wingers. Jamie Gittens was signed for a total package of £55million back in July, with the exciting 21-year-old prospect signing a long-term deal at Stamford Bridge, but Chelsea were not done there when it came to left-sided wide options.

Alejandro Garnacho, someone the club considered making a move for in the January transfer window, was an option for the Blues. Chelsea contacted the Argentine and his entourage and it was made immediately clear the 21-year-old was keen on a move to SW6 – but club-to-club negotiations were less straightforward.

Chelsea initially valued Garnacho at £30million, while Manchester United were holding out for something closer to the £50million-mark, football.london understands. Eventually, Chelsea and United compromised and found common ground on a fixed £40million fee, with Garnacho present at Stamford Bridge for the Blues’ win over Fulham on Saturday, with the transfer announced later in the evening.

Garnacho joins an exciting crop of young wingers now at the club. Estevao Willian, who plays on the opposite flank to Garnacho, was brought in this summer after an agreement was reached with Palmeiras way back in May 2024. It is early days, but the excitement around Estevao and the player he can become – and the player he already is at just 18-years-old – is enormous.

There were four other players that arrived this summer on pre-agreements, including Mamadou Sarr, Mike Penders, Kendry Paez and Dario Essugo. The latter of the four, Essugo, is the only player that will represent Chelsea this season, with the other three all out on loan at the BlueCo-owned Strasbourg.

Finally on the incoming front, and in no particular order, Jorrel Hato arrived from Ajax. Signed for £37million, the Netherlands international was brought to the club to provide competition for Marc Cucurella at left-back, with Renato Veiga leaving on a permanent basis to join Villarreal and Ben Chilwell completely out of the first team picture. As reported on deadline day, Strasbourg had an interest in Chilwell and they ended up signing the experienced left-back on a two-year contract.

In terms of outgoings, Jackson’s £70million package – if certain conditions are met in the contract – will be Chelsea’s most expensive of the summer. Not too far behind is the sale of Noni Madueke to Arsenal. The Gunners paid the Blues £52million for Madueke, who departed the Chelsea camp during the Club World Cup to fly back to London to complete his move.

With Estevao arriving, and Pedro Neto in fine form in recent months, Chelsea did not feel the need to go out and directly replace Madueke, who was one of 11 permanent departures from Stamford Bridge. First team-wise anyway. In total, Chelsea have received over £310million in player sales – a very similar figure to the £317million – by football.london‘s calculations – they have spent on incomings this summer.

In typical Chelsea fashion, it has been an unforgettable summer, not only on the pitch but off it as well. Here is to a few months of rest before January rolls around.