“If I watch football games at the moment then Chelsea, for me, look like favourites.” That’s what Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp said about Chelsea’s chances of winning the Premier League back at the beginning of December. However, the Blues, who were once hot on the heels of league winners Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, quickly fell off the pace.

Chelsea fans were undoubtedly getting excited as Frank Lampard’s men went nine Premier League games unbeaten, but following just one league win in six games, the Blues dropped down to eighth and found themselves some seven points off the Reds, who where sitting pretty at the top of the table after a 2-1 win over Spurs. 

The cracks from last season, that Lampard’s £250-odd million signings seemed to have covered, are starting to reappear, particularly at the back, where sloppy defending has led to conceding goals, and now Chelsea fans and pundits alike are starting to ask the same question; ‘what if the Blues were able to lure Declan Rice to Stamford Bridge in the last window?’

Rice was set to be the cherry on the cake for Lampard, the final signing of a busy summer, which saw five players arrive in west London. However, Chelsea’s all-time leading goalscorer couldn’t get rid of the excess baggage at Cobham, like Danny Drinkwater and Tiémoué Bakayoko, to raise the funds, and after already splashing hundreds of millions, Roman Abramovich wasn’t willing to loosen his purse strings anymore. So, the move fell through. 

However, as a visibly exhausted Chelsea pushed for a late winner against Wolves on a cold Tuesday night in the middle of December, only for Nuno Espírito Santo’s side to counter and Pedro Neto to deliver a massive blow to Lampard’s title challenge in the 95^th minute, we were all left wondering if Chelsea had have gone that extra mile to get Rice, could the Blues have left Molineux with a point in the bag instead of nothing?

Picture it in your head, as Ben Chilwell’s lame cross from the left gets cleared, and Vitinha turns to starts the counter, up steps Rice, doing whatever he needs to do to stop the counter, whether that’s commit a foul, a clean tackle or even intercept the Portuguese midfielder’s pass to Neto. 

Instead, Chelsea fans watched on through their fingers as their defenders sluggishly tracked back and failed to cope with Neto’s pace. Of course, we’ll never know if Rice really would have made the difference, but maybe if Chelsea didn’t release him at schoolboy level, then they wouldn’t be in this situation. 

The same could be said as Raheem Sterling countered and Kevin De Bruyne turned in the rebound to put Manchester City three goals to the good in their recent outing at Stamford Bridge. 

Rice came through the Blues’ academy with the likes of Mason Mount and Reece James, but unlike the latter, he was shown the door at 14. However, since then he has excelled at Chelsea’s London neighbours West Ham and for Gareth Southgate in the England line-up, and the Blues’ chiefs have been left ruing that decision seven years on. 

Not only would Rice add strength to the midfield, but his versatility and ability to shine in multiple positions, including centre back, would also be a major boost for the Chelsea squad. 

Of course, with the January transfer window now open, it’ll come as no surprise that Chelsea are once again heavily linked with Rice’s signature in the online betting market, and the 21-year-old, who is still a Blue at heart, could be a pivotal part to Lampard salvaging something from this season.