In an alternate universe, Enzo Maresca is the Celtic manager, fielding weekly questions about a lack of summer signings.

Funny how football works, as had the stars not aligned on a grand Brendan Rodgers return last year, the man who was very much considered to succeed Ange Postecoglou at Parkhead may well have been facing a dilemma that's the very antithesis of what has awaited him at Chelsea.

'Not enough bodies through the door?' Maresca might say. 'Sorry, absolutely cannot relate.'

There's little chance the Italian had no sense of what he was getting into at Stamford Bridge, but despite attempting to downplay it this week, his mind must be at least a little bit boggled by how quickly things have turned messy. You might've seen that video doing the rounds on social media, the one where the heaving gym at Chelsea's training ground looks like your local leisure centre in the second week of January as it buckles under the post-Christmas rush, where you get to recognise a few faces but not many names while awkwardly awaiting a vacant treadmill. Maresca, fast-tracked into the job after an impressive season at Leicester City, was forced to come out this week and attempt to justify a situation where Chelsea's squad has become so bloated there are currently more than 15 senior players not participating in first-team activities.

“You like to say we have 42-43 players, but more than 15 players are apart from the team," he said. "I am working with about 25. It’s not a mess like it looks from the outside.”

He will surely know that paying that number of players several hundred thousand pounds a week to not contribute is, in itself, a pretty big issue. But it's hard not to feel some sympathy for Maresca in that while nobody forced him to accept the job, this bizarre situation is not of his making. It is, of course, on the club's owners and their penchant for stockpiling players on lengthy contracts. But, as the man who faces the media every week, it's Maresca who is inevitably hit with the hard questions.

It's been over a year since US businessman Todd Boehly and his Clearlake Capital firm took over Chelsea, spending £1bn on 28 senior players. The rationale behind that initial rush, with transfer fees amortised over several years, was to seemingly propel the club back into competing for the biggest prizes at home and abroad in double quick time. Signing young players with high ceilings on long contracts would, theoretically, mean stability over time and reduce the need for constant big investment. But if things were supposed to smooth out this season, it hasn't quite materialised yet. Chelsea have brought in a further nine players but are clearly toiling to offload those who are surplus to requirements. From day one, the obvious danger with this approach was that you could end up with a lot of very well-paid footballers on long deals who you then cannot get rid of.

It's a problem that manifested very publicly this week in the shape of Raheem Sterling. There's very few things in football that haven't been the subject of an official statement by 2024, but the England international's representatives requesting 'clarity' on his failure to make Chelsea's matchday squad at the weekend feels like a new one. The missive included what seemed like a very deliberate reminder to the club that Sterling still has three years to run on his £325,000-a-week deal. At 29, how many clubs (Saudi Pro League notwithstanding) would be willing to take on that expense for a player who seems past his best?

Chelsea's issue here is not just freeing up seats in team meetings, they have to sell players in order to comply with the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules. With the transfer window closing on August 30, they are running out of time. Ben Chilwell finds himself in the same boat as Sterling, and neither are likely to play for the club again. Chelsea have also sold Connor Gallagher, one of their most important players last season, to Atletico Madrid, and it's been widely noted that, as a homegrown player, they can put down every penny of the £36m received as profit. Even if you do believe he's been jettisoned for not fitting Maresca's style of play, it's just all incredibly slapdash. Above that, I'm sure - as it did to me - it will come as news to at least one person reading this piece that Romelu Lukaku is still a Chelsea player, and is among those who must be moved on. 

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Financial concerns aside, this ongoing chaos and upheaval surely cannot be conducive to a harmonious team environment, one that a relatively inexperienced manager in Maresca has to navigate. Chelsea struggled in pre-season, and while they were not obliterated by Manchester City in their Premier League opener last weekend, they didn't present the reigning champions much of a problem. Maresca is a very highly-regarded coach, but so was Graham Potter. Managerial heavyweights Thomas Tuchel and Mauricio Pochettino couldn't make it work, either. It does feel as though the deck is already stacked against Maresca which, just one week into a new league season, does not reflect particularly well on the owners. 

Fans will always demand that club custodians provide it with sufficient financial backing, and you could never accuse Chelsea's of not putting hands in their pockets. It's just that they continue to spend their way into problems, not out of them.