Chelsea's ambitions have been prematurely punctured by lacklustre performances on the pitch and are already nine points off the Premier League's pacesetters.
Whilst a title charge was never envisaged for a club that finished in the league's bottom half last term, the turbo spending carried out by Mauricio Pochettino in the summer was supposed to reap a European challenge at the very least.
Unfortunately, the Argentine has only overseen three victories in his first eight matches in charge, two of which came against newly-promoted Luton Town and Burnley.
Sadly, this demonstrates that accumulating mass amounts of spending doesn't guarantee success and neither does selling talent on the cheap, only to see them become world-beaters elsewhere.
Chelsea have sadly fallen victim to this narrative far too many times and one example that leaves supporters tearing their hair out is the decision to sell Mohamed Salah to AS Roma for £11m in 2015.
Although this has turned out to be a serious lack of misjudgement, it isn't the only occasion that Stamford Bridge has seen a generational talent depart, allowing Kevin De Bruyne to leave for pastures new in January 2014.
Why did Chelsea sell Kevin de Bruyne?
Chelsea acquired talented playmaker De Bruyne for a reported fee of just £6.7m from Genk in January 2012, remaining at the Belgian giants for the rest of the campaign.
Upon his return to west London the following season, he struggled to integrate himself into Jose Mourinho's side and sprinkle the exceptional technical attributes onto proceedings that have seen him become one of the best midfielders on the planet.
In a pre-match interview in May, Frank Lampard – who was one of several fighting for a place in Chelsea's midfield roster at the time – offered his thoughts on why De Bruyne left Chelsea.
He said: "Kevin was fighting more for the No.10 position or one of the two wide players.
"When he was with us in his younger days, we were probably quite well stacked in those attacking areas. Eden [Hazard] was here, [Andre] Schurrle was here, Juan Mata was here and what I remember from Kevin was a real hunger and desire to come in and play."
Described as a "flop" by the Independent after completing his £16.7m move to Wolfsburg in January 2014, the Belgian would soon make Chelsea regret their decision to sell him, racking up 20 goals and 27 assists for the German outfit.
What has De Bruyne achieved at Manchester City?
Manchester City signed De Bruyne for £55m in 2015 and the rest, as they say, is history.
An exceptional playmaker, arguably one of the best to grace the beautiful game, has gone from strength to strength since moving to Manchester.
While it is difficult to put into words just how good the 32-year-old has been, his staggering numbers speak volumes about the relentless consistency and quality that he's provided the Citizens.
A crucial cog in Pep Guardiola's winning machine and a player who is deeply missed, perhaps more than any other in the Premier League when he's absent, has produced an eye-watering 96 goals and 153 assists for Man City.
Those truly sensational returns don't even scrape the surface of a talent who has conquered club football, inspiring City to dominance domestically and on the European stage, starring in their treble-winning campaign last term.
Described by legend Thierry Henry as being "on a different planet", praise has been forthcoming for the sublime playmaker for years and as long as he continues to perform at the pinnacle of his powers for City, Chelsea's regret for selling him grows deeper.
