PSG attacker Bradley Barcola
Chelsea wanted Bradley Barcola in 2023
Here is a 20-year-old right-footed left-winger. He has 11 goal contributions and just shy of 35 league appearances. He has played in the Champions League and is valued at £50million.
Is this Jamie Gittens, the Borussia Dortmund man who football.london understands Chelsea are in stepping up talks with in a bid to get a transfer over the line before the Club World Cup in less than two weeks? Or is it Bradley Barcola in his first year at Paris Saint-Germain?
The newly crowned Champions League winner might sound a bit out of Chelsea's reach right now, but why? He was just benched for the final, after all, with fellow jinky French attacker Desire Doue preferred by Luis Enrique.
In fact, with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia arriving in the January transfer window, his position may well never have been more uncertain. This is not to say there are noises around Barcola, but Chelsea would be wrong not to ask about the availability of someone who so closely fits what they are after.
They were looking at Barcola in 2023 when he was still at Lyon. That was when he was 20 and put up similar numbers to Gittens at Dortmund. That is where the comparison comes from.
In the two years since, Barcola has really shone. He has delivered on the promise and hype around a player with such delightful twinkle-toes that his output can almost appear secondary.
With 26 goals and 28 assists in 97 matches (around 6,000 minutes in all competitions) he is a world star. Doue has the headlines now but Barcola has done plenty himself. This is a player who deserves to be the main attraction.
It is hard to get that at PSG now they have so many wonderful attackers, but Chelsea are not in the same boat. Yes, Cole Palmer takes most of the plaudits, but the wingers are light on tangibly impacting games. They have shot-shy Jadon Sancho, who is the favourite on the left - and Pedro Neto, who has never been a regular goalscorer.
Both have had big moments for Chelsea this season but neither have tied down a spot and made it entirely their own. They have struggled to play well at the same time, and that has been a common theme in the Chelsea attack.
When Neto scored, it often meant Noni Madueke (who shifted to the left at the end of the season to good effect, just without getting the goals or assists to show for it) had been taken off. Sancho and Neto fought for a place, as did Madueke, but nobody dominated and made themselves undroppable for long.
Neto prefers the right, as does Madueke, but both can occupy either flank. So can Cobham graduate Tyrique George. Sancho has been used on either side as well. Mykhailo Mudryk is still suspended.
Gittens has played on both sides but is primarily being viewed as an answer to Chelsea's left-wing demands. He would undoubtedly come as cheaper than Barcola, who is more likely to cost closer to £80million if PSG would even consider it at all, and has a bit still to be ironed out.