On Wednesday, Chelsea announced the signing of defender Marco Palestra from Atalanta.
Palestra has joined Chelsea on a seven-year contract, with the club paying Atalanta £47m for his signature.
The Italian impressed in Serie A last season, so he could prove to be a good signing for Xabi Alonso’s side.
At the same time, though, not every Chelsea supporter will be ecstatic about his arrival, and there is one main reason why.
Who would you start in a five-man defence for Chelsea?
Marco Palestra can’t be one of the ‘ready-made’ signings Chelsea promised supporters
According to Daily Mail journalist Kieran Gill, Chelsea consider Palestra as one of the “ready-made” signings they wanted to make this summer.
Since the end of the 2025/26 campaign, Chelsea have briefed that they will tweak their transfer strategy and sign players who are capable of making an immediate impact.
They have constantly put out that they want to sign a couple of “ready-made” signings, and Palestra could prove to be that. But right now, at least on paper, it is hard to describe him as such.
The Italian is just 21 years of age and has only made 53 senior appearances in his career. It does not exactly scream ready-made.
When Chelsea started briefing to the media that they wanted to sign players who can make an instant impact, supporters were probably expecting Premier League-proven footballers like Morgan Rogers and Jarrod Bowen.
Of course, there is still plenty of time for Chelsea to bring in players like that, while they have already made one bid for 33-year-old Granit Xhaka. But it has been quite an underwhelming start to the transfer window after what was promised to fans.
That being said, with Reece James still having injury problems and Malo Gusto being linked to Manchester City, Palestra could be needed next season.
Chelsea fans should not be too quick to write off the Italy international, but you have to question whether he can help the team return to the top four.
Receive a digest of our best Chelsea content each week direct to your mailbox
