Chelsea STILL aren't done spending! Enzo Maresca reveals Blues are preparing to make more signings to close gap to Arsenal & Man City

The Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital consortium have spurlged since they took over and the Blues have emerged as the top-spenders on three occasions in the last four transfer windows. It is understood that they spent nearly $1.3 billion (£1b) on 39 players across five transfer windows with £219m spent this summer alone.

Maresca brought in 11 players this summer including Jadon Sancho, thanks to a last-minute loan deal from Manchester United. However, the coach was prudent enough to let go of several stars as well to raise over £150m ($199.6m). Although it was often suggested that the Chelsea first team has close to 40 players, the official squad photo released on Friday saw the manager sharing the frame with 29 players.

Despite intense activity over several transfer windows, Maresca still feels that his squad is lagging behind the likes of Arsenal and City, which would force them to spend more in January.

"I think we are a very good squad but there are clubs like Manchester City and Arsenal that are ahead of us, no doubt," he opined. "Hopefully (if) we progress and (keep) improving, we can slowly, slowly be close to them. But I think it is quite clear that at this moment Arsenal and Manchester City are ahead of the rest. Like I have said, the reason why is one club is nine years with the same manager (Pep Guardiola joined Manchester City in 2016), and the other (Mikel Arteta at Arsenal) is five years. The rest of the clubs…is a short time.”

When asked if Chelsea could bring in more players in January, Maresca said: "The target after the last summer (window) is to try to do less things but more specific. This is the target for January and next summer. Hopefully, it can be like this.”

Chelsea are reportedly planning to get rid of Mykhailo Mudryk in January which could pave the way for another forward walking into Stamford Bridge. The Ukraine international has clocked just 61 minutes in the Premier League and with Sancho hitting the ground running, opportunities are likely to be limited for Mudryk. The Blues return to action on Saturday against West Ham.