How Delap's injury caused a ripple effect across Europe

Liam Delap's untimely hamstring injury impacted not only Chelsea but sent out a ripple effect across the transfer market in Europe.

Bayern Munich felt the brunt of the disruption as Chelsea withdrew permission for their striker Nicolas Jackson to undergo a medical on Saturday afternoon. Chelsea also simultaneously made contact with both Sporting Lisbon and striker Conrad Harder's entourage after the 2-0 win over Fulham.

It was here that the games began between the two clubs as Chelsea asked Bayern to make a permanent offer to help fund a move for Harder. Yet, Bayern also saw a bid rejected by Atalanta for alternative option Ademola Lookman.

Harder ultimately turned down Chelsea to join RB Leipzig where he had a bigger squad role on offer.

Meanwhile, Chelsea moved onto plan B as Jackson stayed in a Munich hotel overnight and began seeking an agreement to recall Marc Guiu from his loan spell at Sunderland.

Sunderland reluctantly agreed to return the 19-year-old and were then forced to enter the market for Ajax's Brian Brobbey .

That meant Ajax needed a replacement and moved to sign Kasper Dolberg from Anderlecht, who was a target for Celtic.

Celtic - missing out on Dolberg - scrambled around for multiple striking options on the evening of deadline day and nearly made it a full circle with a late move for Chelsea's David Datro Fofana.

Fofana opted for a move to Charlton which ultimately fell through. It has left Celtic linked with the now out-of-contract Kelechi Iheanacho after he agreed to terminate his contract at Sevilla.

Frantic end to the window for Chelsea

It was supposed to be a calm end to the transfer window in terms of incomings for Chelsea with a plan to sell, sell, sell.

But when Delap pulled up at 12.44pm on Saturday it sent Chelsea into panic mode, as in the hours before the match AC Milan had completed a move for France forward Christopher Nkunku and Chelsea had allowed Jackson to travel for a medical at Bayern Munich.

As the seriousness of Delap's injury became known, Chelsea reneged on the deal with Bayern which prompted an angry reaction from Jackson and his representatives.

Chelsea explored their options with a move for Harder their plan A, recalling Guiu plan B and sticking with Jackson as a last resort.

Ultimately, a returning Guiu proved viable and avoided using the final and most difficult option which would have been to force Jackson to return against his wishes.

Sources close to the deal explained that Chelsea ultimately ended up getting improved terms for Jackson, with Bayern now paying a £14.3m loan fee with an obligation to buy based on appearances made for £56m.

A total package in excess of £70m would be some return for a player that cost £32m from Villarreal in 2023.

Remarkably, before all this happened, Chelsea failed with £34.7m bid to sign Barcelona attacker Fermin Lopez but with an openness to negotiate.

It left Chelsea extremely busy on deadline day while trying to complete around 10 deals in a short period of time.

Attacking mifielder Facundo Buonanotte joined on loan from Brighton for £2m, left-back Ben Chilwell went to partner club Strasbourg, midfielder Alex Matos joined for Sheffield United for £2m and forward Donell McNeilly joined Nottingham Forest.

There were also loans for academy players Omari Kellyman, Jimmy-Jay Morgan and Ronnie Stutter. Ishe Samuels-Smith also saw his transfer to Strasbourg reversed and he was then sent on loan to Swansea City.

Chelsea claimed a Premier League record in player sales of over £288m but would have tipped £300m had forward Tyrique George's £22m move to Fulham not collapsed.

'Bomb squad' in exile

Raheem Sterling, Axel Disasi and Fofana from the so-called 'bomb squad' were left stranded and did not find moves - despite the latter agreeing a season-long loan move with Charlton.

It seems unlikely that any of these players will be given a prominent role in Enzo Maresca's squad and questions remain whether as to whether they will be re-integrated at all, or remain in football limbo, using a separate dressing room, training on another pitch and even using a different gym than the rest of the first team.

However, Chelsea are happy with the squad they have built with nine new players, including six new forwards for Enzo Maresca to work with and tailoring the squad more to his requirements after his second summer transfer window.

Yet, the Conference League and Club World Cup-winners got dragged into the madness of transfer deadline day when they didn't expect to.

How Uefa restrictions impacted Chelsea

The Blues also had the pressure from Uefa for not complying with financial controls in past seasons and in July and were asked to pay a substantial £26.7m fine.

However, sporting sanctions were a bigger issue and new signings would not be allowed to be registered for the Champions League if they did not maintain "a positive transfer balance" in this transfer window.

According to Football Transfers, Chelsea's net spend is £1.5m with £285m spent on the likes of Delap, Joao Pedro, Jamie Gittens and Alejandro Garnacho but this was countered with £283.5m of sales, which included Noni Madueke (£52m), Joao Felix a further (£43.7m) and Nkunku (£36m). Add-on fees would take Chelsea into a positive balance.

Chelsea are happy that most of the players who were on loan elsewhere last seaso but unwanted by those clubs, such as Felix, Renato Veiga and Armando Broja, were sold.

Yet, it is clear Chelsea have made strides to be compliant and, with financial controls judging clubs over three year periods, they have sought to balance rampant spending in the past two seasons under the Todd Boehly-Clearlake ownership, with rampant selling.

They have sold over £750m worth of players to partially balance the more than £1.6bn spent on incoming transfers over said three year period.