CAN SANCHO REIGNITE HIS FLAGGING CAREER AT THE BRIDGE? DEFINITELY MAYBE

AS Manchester slept on Friday night, alarms set for the morning scramble to claim tickets to a certain set of gigs at Heaton Park, Jadon Sancho was putting the final touches on his own homecoming of sorts.

- Malik Ouzia

Raised a Chelsea fan in London, albeit south-east of the river, by Sunday afternoon Sancho was on the pitch at Stamford Bridge, waving to the crowd in his fresh blue strip, then watching his new team-mates spurn a hatful of chances en route to a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace.

Afterwards, Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca talked up the qualities of his new signing, highlighting Sancho's ability to break down teams setting up to frustrate from deep. He also, though, was keen to stress that that was not his side's issue as they failed to put Palace away.

"When you face a team like today and you don't create, you can say, 'Okay, we need this player or that player, in this position the Italian explained. "But with this kind of game, where even with a low block we had five, six or seven clear chances, there are not many more things you can do to win." In other words, what difference might Sancho, signed too late to feature, have made to Sunday's result? According to his new boss, not much.

Hardly the most auspicious start then, and not the most convincing answer to the collective question of why Chelsea spent the final hours of the window in pursuit of another young wide talent.