Timo Werner will not make his Chelsea debut until next season but the £47million signing from RB Leipzig is certain to ramp up the short-term pressure on Frank Lampard's team for one simple reason.
With the arrival of one of Europe's best young forwards, on top of the addition of Hakim Ziyech from Ajax, Champions League football is a necessity.
That has been a deeply important target since Lampard took the head coach role last summer but having close to £90million of attacking talent, with the potential for more to arrive, primed to go and no place in the club game's premier competition would be a rather significant blow.
Fifth place is likely to mean a Champions League spot if Manchester City's appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which was heard earlier this month, is upheld following a UEFA charge relating to financial fair play breaches.
Even then there remains a chance of them falling to sixth position, should two of Tottenham, Sheffield United, Manchester United and Wolverhampton Wanderers hit a hot run of form.
Arsenal and Crystal Palace may even have distant longshots if they can string together a run of wins and those above stutter.
The table is tightly-packed, nine points separating Chelsea in fourth to .Palace in 11th, with United overtaking the Blues should they win at Spurs tomorrow evening.
None of the other teams have dropped such a significant amount of money on bolstering their squad and it will no doubt be playing on the minds of his soon to be team-mates over the coming weeks.
Suddenly the jeopardy involved has become far more real.
Starting Sunday the next nine games, plus the FA Cup and an afterthought Champions League tie against Bayern Munich that looks a formality, carry long-term importance.
