Chelsea were linked were linked to a number of other strikers from around the leagues in Europe during the window and some may have been just been rumours depending on if you believe the saying “where there is smoke there is fire”.

No matter what you think it does look as though the Blues are better equipped now than they were at the beginning of January to make a serious run at securing silverware this season and if you like betting you can get the odds here.

Edin Dzeko was heavily linked with a move to West London from Roma. The deal reportedly stalled because Chelsea were uncertain whether to add a 31 year old striker who may well be plateauing in terms of his goal output.

In addition to that there was the complication of former Manchester City striker Dzeko demanding a contract of over a year.

Giving Dzeko the two and a half year deal he wanted would have impacted the club policy of not offering contracts of longer than a year to players over 30 years of age – a policy which is a factor for Cesc Fabregas, Gary Cahill, Pedro and David Luiz at the moment.

West Ham’s 29 year old striker, former Liverpool and Newcastle player Andy Carroll was surprisingly linked to a move to Chelsea but soon after the story broke Carroll was ruled out for a month with an ankle problem so any deal was off with his previous injury record alone making the move questionable in the first place. Fans did not respond well to the rumour of Chelsea pursuing Andy Carroll who has struggled for goals so far this season for the Hammers.

In one of the other more interesting rumours Chelsea were connected with a bid for Stoke City’s former England and Liverpool striker Peter Crouch. The thirty-seven year old target-man has played for 11 clubs in his illustrious career but a move to join the Blues seemed like a bridge too far even for the player who has seen his game-time increase under Paul Lambert with the Scotsman having replaced former Chelsea star Mark Hughes as the Potters’ manager.

Chelsea were also linked with a move to land Leicester City’s Algerian hitman Islam Slimani, a move which did not go down so well with some of the Chelsea faithful on social media despite the forward’s impressive goal-scoring form for his country. It was widely reported that new Foxes boss Claude Puel wanted to move some of his strikers off the books on loan this January and he did indeed send Leonardo Ulloa on loan for the rest of the season to Brighton as well as concluding a loan also for the rest of the season for Slimani to join former Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez at Newcastle.

It seems from the options that were widely reported the Blues made prudent moves in signing Olivier Giroud ahead of the other strikers above plus with the addition of Ross Barkley they have added potential and youth to the attacking midfield position which was needed given the fact that Spaniards Pedro and former Arsenal man Cesc Fabregas are both 30 years old.

Young Belgians Michy Batshuayi at Dortmund and Charly Musonda at Celtic with Brendan Rodgers will both get more game-time at their new loan clubs so it is fair to say Chelsea have had a pretty solid transfer window all round.