He has had a frustrating time of it through injury though and is one of several first-team stars not to have made a single appearance for the Blues. Alongside Wesley Fofana (injured for the season), Christopher Nkunku (out until December) and Romeo Lavia (expected back after the international break), Chalobah forms a large group of those stil sidelined.

Having been on the cusp of playing under Thomas Tuchel again, Chalobah was extremely close to joining Bayern Munich on deadline day, he is now out of practice and also working to find fitness as well. “What I can tell you is there is two parts,” Pochettino said during the summer window.

“If an offer appears, it is because another part of the club accepted it to move or they were trying to find a solution or the player wanted to leave. You cannot only blame the club, if an offer appears for Jesus [Perez, my assistant], it is because Jesus was open to receiving the offer, no? Come on, we need to also be clever. Did you receive an offer, Jesus [laughs]?!”

The Argentine was adamant that he hadn’t frozen out the versatile defender, especially after he had been central to the plans during pre-season. “No, but it is always easy to blame the club and blame the club. In the same way, maybe the player was thinking in pre-season or before the season to move in one direction. If that didn’t happen, then I am fair with the player. I will give them a chance to perform and play here.

“Maybe the player decides to stay after but that’s the business. That is not ‘oh the club accepted the offer’ or ‘the player wanted to move’. Come on, it is the business that we know very well. The players that are here if they deserve will have the opportunities to play but they need to be better than the others in their position.”

Chalobah has consistently been linked with a move away from Chelsea even before his debut in 2021 but is also yet to truly let the club down having been a solid performer despite his waning minutes each season. After Axel Disasi arrived and Fofana became a long-term heir to Thiago Silva, Chalobah’s chances of getting back in the team even when fit look bleak.

He is currently described as ‘undergoing rehabilitation’ on the weekly injury updates released by the club but hasn’t been seen in any training images since the start of the campaign. Now, unlike Mason Mount and Lewis Hall, who left the club to general fan outrage, Chalobah is not expected to move on without too much opposition.

”In my opinion, Chablobah leaving Chelsea wouldn’t be a mistake,” former Blues defender William Gallas told Lord Ping. “He’s played a lot of games for Chelsea, but he had the chance to cement himself in the starting 11, and I don’t think he gave what the board or manager would have expected,” he continued. “That’s why he’s been in and out of the starting 11.

“Perhaps Chalobah doesn’t have the quality for a club like Chelsea, and the club letting him go would be a completely different context to someone like Mason Mount. I think people understand why Mount left, even if his transfer to Man United was a mistake. His performances haven’t been great. Mount was a Chelsea boy, but they couldn’t find a solution. It was a mistake.”

Chalobah will now once more have to watch on from the sidelines as his teammates take on Manchester City on Sunday. He is very much one of the forgotten men at the club right now and is much more likely, it seems, to make his next appearance for another club before adding to his current tally for Chelsea.

For Pochettino it is far from his biggest worry and the backline has been a settled part of his team that regularly impressed in the opening stages of the season despite results not being what they could have been.