Signing/signed another midfielder for what seems a decent fee
That's three teenagers signed for significant fees this summer. Carney Chukwuemeka, Cesare Casadei and the young goalie Gabriel Slonina put together have cost the club somewhere around £35-40M in initial fees plus potential future bonuses.
All well and good if there's still enough money in the budget to address some more pressing concerns in the first team squad but I wouldn't expect any of the teenage signings to feature in the first team this season, aside from at most a few domestic cup appearances here and there.
The three players have all signed six year deals, assuming the Casadei signing goes through as planned, so maybe the idea is to have them training in or around the first team squad this season and maybe a couple of seasons out on loan to see how they develop before even thinking of fully integrating them into the squad. Slonina of course is still out on loan till January to complete the MLS season but should be joining the club in the winter.
To me it looks like the club are planning to go back to the direction we were heading in the 'Michael Emenalo era' when lots of promising young talents were signed early for what in hindsight were very decent fees. Back then the club signed the likes of Lukaku, De Bruyne, Salah and Courtois in quick succession but as well all know, in the end only Courtois really made it at the club. The transfer market is getting more and more ridiculous every day when the going rate for players who have one decent season under their belt (ie. Anthony Gordon) is already at the £50M mark so it kind of makes sense to try and scout these players early and then have them developed for a while out on loan. If even some of them make it and join the first team squad, it's already going to be a 'net profit' even if the rest turn out to be duds who never quite develop as expected.