The word from Chelsea was that this would be the first transfer window post the two-year period of churn that had entirely regenerated their playing squad, and in some sense it lived up to billing. There were no blockbuster additions in January, and certainly no hint of the kind of uber-splurge that saw Enzo Fernandez, Mykhalio Mudryk, Noni Madueke, Benoit Badiashile and Malo Gusto brought in for more than £250m two Januarys ago.

There was interest briefly explored in Marc Guehi and at one stage a serious bid for Alejandro Garnacho looked to be in the offing, but neither came to pass. In the end, a loan recall for Trevor Chalobah provided the only significant addition to Enzo Maresca’s first-team squad, with teenage midfielder Mathis Amougou - whose signing from Saint-Etienne is yet to be announced - and Aaron Anselmino, recalled from Boca Juniors, both viewed as prospects for the future.

In the other direction, though, things were busy. Cesare Casadei was sold to Torino and Harvey Vale to QPR, while Renato Veiga, Axel Disasi, Ben Chilwell, Carney Chukwuemeka and Joao Felix all secured loan exits, assuming the latter’s switch to AC Milan is confirmed without a hitch. Rather than pushing desperately for signings, Chelsea spent the final day of the window rearranging their assets like tiles in a game of Rummikub, recalling David Fofana and Caleb Wiley to free up precious international loan slots.

And at the end of it all - and given that chat around Chelsea for much of the last six months, this next bit feels almost ridiculous to write - you could not help but wonder whether the deepest squad in English football history might just have left itself a little bit short. None of the seven senior players allowed to leave this month were Premier League regulars, nor had any one of them done much to suggest they might play a key part in the second half of the campaign. But they had played a part, nonetheless.

Add Mykhailo Mudryk, unavailable for now while provisionally suspended for a failed drugs test, and Chelsea have lost players that made 84 appearances between them in the first half of the season, and were involved in 24 goals. Of course, the majority of those came in lesser cup competitions, but they were still contributions that had to be made in order to spare Maresca’s first-team stars the grind of a Thursday-Sunday campaign.

It cannot be coincidence that Chelsea’s form tailed off badly once the Conference League group stage finished in mid-December and the Italian could no longer bank on giving his starters week-long breaks between league games. Monday night’s victory over West Ham was only their second in eight league matches since. There are factors to offset some of that loss. Josh Acheampong and Tyrique George have emerged from the academy since the season began, while Reece James is fit having missed most of the first half of the campaign (though relying on him to stay sound is a gamble). Wesley Fofana and Benoit Badiashile will swell the numbers at centre-back once they return from injury, too.

So, yes, Chelsea still have an extremely deep squad by almost any comparison but their own. Arsenal are pinning Champions League and Premier League hopes on five fit attackers, one of whom is 17; Chelsea have eight to lead their bids for the Conference League and top-four. Maresca still has, on paper, two players in contention for almost every position, and maybe just about enough bodies to keep up his policy of wholesale rotation once the European knockout stage starts next month, though you suspect he may start to field stronger teams.

But dig into the detail and factor in inevitable injuries and there are areas of thinned concern. The base of midfield is one. Behind Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez, Romeo Lavia’s fitness problems are well documented and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (who has been injured himself) now looks to be the other reserve, despite Maresca being on record as saying that is not his position. “He’s playing in the right pocket, left pocket, or behind the striker,” said Maresca, who also had Dewsbury-Hall at Leicester last season, when asked in November about the Englishman’s best role. “This, for me, is Kiernan’s position.”.