It's been another dreadful campaign of Premier League football for the blue half of west London this year, with Chelsea staring at the prospect of another season without European football.
Mauricio Pochettino has struggled to create an effective team out of the swath of talented players that joined the club in the summer, and while Cole Palmer has shone, most of his teammates have not.
In fact, one of his fellow summer arrivals has seen his value plunge in the eight months following his signing and is now worth less than the talented 21-year-old.
Cole Palmer's valuation in 2024
Chelsea shelled out £42.5m to sign Palmer from Manchester City last summer, and while there were a few questions at the time, he has more than proven his worth since, and there are still at least nine games left of the season.
1
Cole Palmer
19
13
2
Nicolas Jackson
12
4
3
Raheem Sterling
8
8
4
Enzo Fernández
7
3
5
Mykhaylo Mudryk
6
2
The Wythenshawe-born gem has unquestionably been the west Londoners' most important player this season and already looks to be the most talented star at the club despite being just 21 and playing in a squad with teammates who cost far more than he did.
In his 37 games for the Blues this season, the explosive talent has scored 19 goals, provided 13 assists, and consistently made match-winning contributions, such as the two late goals against United last week that secured the Pensioners all three points.
Enzo Fernández
€100m (£86m)
Cole Palmer
€100m (£86m)
Nicolas Jackson
€80m (£68m)
Axel Disasi
€80m (£68m)
Conor Gallagher
€80m (£68m)
This ability to win games almost singlehandedly at such a young age has unsurprisingly improved his valuation. According to the CIES Football Observatory, he is now worth €100m, which is about £86m, and makes him the joint most valuable player at the club.
Unfortunately, Palmer's rapidly soaring worth has been quite comfortably evened out by the plunging value of another star.
Moises Caicedo's valuation in 2024
Yes, the player in question is summer signing and former Brighton & Hove star Moises Caicedo.
The Ecuadorian international became the most expensive player in Premier League history last year when he joined the Blues for £115m in mid-August.
Since then, it would be fair to say that the 22-year-old hasn't lived up to his price tag in his 39 appearances for the Blues. That's not to say he has been poor, but he hasn't been great either, making several mistakes that have cost the team this year.
In fact, in his very first game for the club, away to West Ham United, he gave away a penalty before passing the ball to Anthony Elanga to score for Nottingham Forest at Stamford Bridge a couple of weeks later and then doing something similar at home against Manchester United last week.
Now, while he has already made several costly mistakes in his short time with Chelsea, he still looks like a quality player at times and could come good in the long term, but as things stand, his lacklustre campaign has tanked his value.
According to the CIES Football Observatory, the Santo Domingo-born star is worth just €60m, which is £51m, or an eyewatering £64m less than Chelsea paid for him last summer.
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Ultimately, Caicedo could well develop into a world-beater, but as things stand, it's hard not to see his £115m signing as a financial disaster for Chelsea.