Chelsea broke their transfer record to secure the services of Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid in their bid to maintain their stranglehold on the Premier League.
The Blues were dominant last season in their first campaign under the tenure of Antonio Conte, romping to their fifth title over the last 14 years.
However, the club now face the challenge of repeating their success amid another summer of heavy spending from their rivals.
Romelu Lukaku was touted with a return to Stamford Bridge, but instead secured a £75m move from Everton to Manchester United.
As a result, Conte’s men were forced to change their focus and acquired Morata from the Spanish giants for a club-record fee.
Due to speculation surrounding the future of Diego Costa, the switch for the 24-year-old was a necessity to ensure that the Blues have a quality forward leading them into the new term.
Costa was a revelation for Chelsea last term, scoring 20 goals to guide them towards the title. It was the same tally he notched in his first season at the club, when his strikes were also pivotal in their top-flight triumph.
Coincidence or not, his lack of production in the 2015-16 campaign resulted in a below-par campaign for the Blues, although the discourse spread by Jose Mourinho played the most significant role in their struggles.
However, the importance of a 20-goal striker has never been more important in the top flight, with seemingly all the contenders boasting at least one man that is capable of achieving the feat.
Morata scored 15 goals for Real Madrid last season in 26 appearances in La Liga. Considering he was sharing the attack with Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema, it was a decent haul over the course of the campaign, although a lot more will be expected of him at Stamford Bridge.
The Spaniard has been backed at 61/50 in the top goalscorer Premier League odds for next season, but will have to outperform Harry Kane, Sergio Aguero, Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez to likely lead the English top flight in strikes.
Losing the experience of Costa to lead the line would be a massive blow and put pressure on Morata to hit the ground running. Although he has a decent pedigree, it would be a huge effort for the 24-year-old to match the tally Costa produced in his first season in the Premier League.
In a similar style to Conte’s system at Juventus, Morata mustered only 15 league goals in two seasons, although Chelsea arguably have stronger creative players in their squad.
The relationship between Eden Hazard and Costa was one of the driving forces behind Chelsea’s two crowns and it will be vital for Morata to share the same cohesion with the Belgian that his international team-mate enjoyed.
Hazard is expected to miss the start of the new campaign, which could deal a blow in the Spaniard’s hopes of hitting the ground running at Stamford Bridge. Therefore Cesc Fabregas and Pedro must rise to the occasion to help their team-mate adjust to life in the Premier League by providing ample ammunition in the early weeks of the season.
Pressure will be on Morata from the off and it’s vital that he gets off to a solid start to avoid the fate of Chelsea’s last record signing Fernando Torres, who endured three-and-half years of miserable form at the Bridge before moving back to Atletico Madrid.
The Blues cannot afford their new star man to suffer the same fate, with the top flight slowly becoming more competitive than it has ever been before.