Surprise addition set to cost Chelsea just £2.7 million

Most Chelsea fans expected to see the Blues add another center back before the transfer window closed, but I doubt you'd find anyone who expected that addition to be Nantes' Papy Djilobodji. If The Guardian is to be believed, however, it sound like he'll be coming very, very cheap, for a transfer fee of just £2.7 million.

That fee might give us a bit of insight into Chelsea's long-term thinking, following such a surprising move. Jose Mourinho obviously feels that the squad needs reinforcement that could contribute right now, and at 26-years old, Djilobodji should just be reaching the prime years of his career. As long as he adapts, he should be useful depth behind John Terry, Kurt Zouma, and Gary Cahill, and has the sort of athleticism to push the trio as well, if everything goes according to plan.

More importantly, however, is that Djilobodji isn't a major financial commitment, and shouldn't prevent Chelsea from going back in on targets such as John Stones, Raphael Varane, and Aymeric Laporte a year form now. Unlike players such as Aymen Abdennour and Ezequiel Garay, the Senegalese international should be easy to move should the Blues so desire, either on loan, or for a profit, hopefully leading to Roberto Martinez answering questions about Chelsea and John Stones for the entire Premier League season.

While it was certainly shocking to see the Blues wind up linked so heavily to this particular target this morning, the more I think about it, the more it seems like a stop gap before they make another heavy push for Stones in 2016. That, I can live with.