The arrival of a classy, experienced new defender at the Bridge is, says the club, ‘something many Chelsea fans have been wanting for quite some time’.

Quite some time? They’ve been tearing their hair out for two years!

Enrolling Thiago Silva from PSG for a year, with the option of a second, may prove key to halting the Blues’ defence’s sieve-like quality, with 58 goals conceded in the league alone last season.

It still seems a minor miracle that Chelsea’s men finished in the Champions League places after such generosity to opponents.

Hopefully drafting in a man who turns 36 in a couple of weeks, and who was the most expensive defender on the planet when Paris signed him eight years ago, will give his teammates some sorely needed confidence at the back.

Add to the mix the £50m left back Ben Chilwell, who Frank Lampard has been admiring all season, and overnight the back line looks sturdier.

The mystery is who will be between the sticks. Lamps simply doesn’t rate Kepa, even as an expensive reserve keeper, and Willy Caballero, while still a reliable netminder, is almost as old as the manager.

If Kepa needs some inspiration to up his game, he need look no further than Chelsea Women’s Ann-Katrin Berger, pictured, whose fine performance at the weekend helped the Blues lift the Women’s Community Shield with a 2-0 win over arch-rivals Man City.

She’s focused, dominant, tall and acrobatic, and looks better with every game, even if she occasionally makes rash decisions to come out and flap at looping corner kicks she’d do better to leave to her defenders.

In terms of attitude, however, Berger’s the real deal, while Kepa remains an enigma.