Chelsea are Premier League champions, but Antonio Conte is under no illusions about the need to strengthen his squad significantly this summer. A small core of proven performers returned the Blues to the pinnacle of English football, but more quality options in all areas are needed if they are to maintain their position and return to the Champions League as genuine contenders.
This transfer window will be more about signings than sales, with most of the departures set to be loan deals. Here are the five Chelsea players most likely to be displaced by new faces.
Nemanja Matic
Despite playing a key role in two title-winning Chelsea teams in three seasons and scoring that FA Cup goal against Tottenham, Matic's lumbering and occasionally ponderous style has never sat easily with supporters, and there is a sense within the club that he is one of the easier starters to upgrade.
Monaco powerhouse Tiemoue Bakayoko is at the top of the Premier League champions' wish list to pair with N'Golo Kante in central midfield, and his arrival would not be good news for Matic or Cesc Fabregas.
The difference with the Serb is that he has just two years left on his current contract, meaning that Chelsea may be tempted to sell for maximum value this summer if he can't be persuaded to extend. Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho is reportedly keen and isn't short of a transfer budget.
Michy Batshuayi
Signed for £33 million from Marseille last summer, Batshuayi quickly endeared himself to Chelsea fans with his raw potential and quirky social media persona -- but he never managed to earn the trust of Conte.
Just one Premier League start all season underlined that lack of faith, even if Batshuayi came off the substitutes' bench to score the goal that clinched the title away at West Brom. The feeling at Stamford Bridge is that he needs to go on loan, preferably elsewhere in the top flight, to establish himself in England.
Chelsea are looking to bolster their attacking options this summer regardless of whether Diego Costa stays or goes and if they succeed, expect to see Batshuayi continuing his development at another Premier League club next season.
Kurt Zouma
Central defence is another area in which Conte is looking for significant upgrades and Virgil van Dijk, Jerome Boateng and Leonardo Bonucci are all on the list of potential targets. Andreas Christensen will also be given a chance to impress in preseason after an excellent two-year loan spell at Borussia Monchengladbach.
All of which means opportunities will be even more limited for Zouma, who has completed 90 minutes just four times since making his first-team return from a serious knee injury in January.
Chelsea remain invested in Zouma's long-term progression, but there is now an acceptance that he will not get the chances he needs at Stamford Bridge.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek
"The problem with Ruben," one Chelsea official told ESPN FC earlier this season, "is that he doesn't have a position." That is certainly true in Conte's current 3-4-3, in which Loftus-Cheek's scattering of minutes have come almost exclusively as a square peg in one of the wide forward roles.
Conte insists that Loftus-Cheek still has "good prospects" to be a Chelsea player, but a lack of minutes and persistent back problems have stalled the development of a youngster once widely regarded in academy circles to be ahead of Dele Alli.
Loftus-Cheek won't be short of Premier League loan suitors, but Chelsea need to think very carefully about where they send him next season. He needs to play regularly but, just as importantly, he needs to find a position to make his own.
Kenedy
In theory, Kenedy should have been well equipped to challenge Marcos Alonso for the left wing-back position in Conte's 3-4-3 system after being recalled from an entirely unproductive loan spell at Watford in January.
In reality, not only did Alonso prove a consistent and durable performer in his first season back in the Premier League, but Kenedy's failure to make even the substitutes' bench for most of the second half of the campaign highlighted Conte's conclusion that he was not a serious alternative.
Chelsea look likely to prioritise wing-back cover in this transfer window and would be open to selling or loaning out Kenedy, depending on which option yields the most attractive market for the Brazilian.