Chelsea's last 11 signings read like a eulogy of the club's recruitment department, as discussed by Sportsmail chief sports writer Martin Samuel on Monday.
Names like Papy Djilobodji, Danilo Pantic, Radamel Falcao, and Alexandre Pato leap out to explain the worst title defence in Premier League history.
Add up the foursome's appearances in the Premier League and you get nine, all of them by the injury-haunted Falcao, who has scored only once.
Papy Djilobodji (left), signed in the summer and sent out on loan by January, is symbolic of Chelsea's problems
Radamel Falcao, signed despite his injury-hit spell with Manchester United, has also failed to impress
Alexandre Pato was brought in on loan in January but has failed to make a single appearance for Chelsea
Baba Rahman, who cost £14 million, has been overhauled at left-back by winger Kenedy, even amid Chelsea's defensive woes.
While it could be argued that summer signing Pedro - especially after the departure of Jose Mourinho - has been a worthwhile addition to the Blues, he is the exception that proves the rule about Chelsea's recruitment woes.
In comparison to Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea's signings look particularly poor.
As Alex Ferguson pointed out recently, so much of Leicester's success feeds back to Steve Walsh, who plays a dual role as assistant manager and in recruitment.
Of Leicester's last 11 additions, Daniel Iversen, Yohan Benalouane and Andrej Kramaric do not seem to be involved in Claudio Ranieri's plans, although Iversen is an 18-year-old goalkeeper who was always likely to have been signed for the future.
Baba Rahman (left) was signed in the summer but has been replaced at left-back by winger Kenedy (right)
In the time Chelsea have signed the likes of Djilobodji, Falcao, Matt Maizga, Abdul Rahman Baba and Michael Hector, the Foxes have revolutionised their first team, bringing in Demarai Gray, Shinji Okazaki, Robert Huth, Christian Fuchs and, in N'Golo Kante, the best central midfielder in the country.
Spurs have been equally impressive, making a pair of missteps with Federico Fazio and Benjamin Stambouli but emerging favourably from recent windows by adding the likes of Eric Dier, Dele Alli, Kevin Wimmer, Toby Alderweireld, Son Heung-min and Kieran Trippier.
The Premier League's surprise top two has clearly been influenced by sensible transfer policy, but how badly do Chelsea compare to their elite rivals?
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