Some transfers are about collecting talent. Others are about solving a tactical puzzle.
Chelsea's £117 million move for Morgan Rogers feels firmly in the latter category.
On paper, another attack-minded player might seem an odd priority for a squad already boasting Cole Palmer, Joao Pedro and a wealth of wide options. Viewed through the lens of Xabi Alonso's football, though, the signing makes immediate sense.
Alonso has rarely been interested in rigid positional labels. His best Bayer Leverkusen side was built around players who drifted between them, while his brief spell at Real Madrid continued the same principles.
Rogers has spent much of his career being described as difficult to categorise. Under Alonso, that could become his greatest strength.
The 23-year-old is not a conventional winger. Nor is he an orthodox No.10. He occupies the awkward space between the two, and few modern coaches understand how to exploit that type of player better than Chelsea's new manager.
At Aston Villa, Rogers was at his most dangerous when starting nominally from the left before driving infield. His greatest asset has never been his pace in behind, but his ability to carry the ball through pressure. Few Premier League attackers combine his balance, power and close control. Defenders often know exactly where he wants to go and still struggle to prevent him getting there.
That ability should become even more valuable in Alonso's preferred 3-4-2-1 system.
Although the shape is usually described as a back three with two attacking midfielders behind a central striker, the reality is far more fluid.
Alonso wants his two creators to roam across the width of the pitch, receive between the lines and attack whichever spaces the opposition leave vacant. They are expected to become playmakers, runners and secondary forwards within the same move.
It is a role Rogers appears tailor-made to perform.
At Leverkusen, Alonso built one of Europe's most entertaining attacks around Florian Wirtz, who constantly drifted away from his starting position to receive between midfield and defence.
Wirtz possessed a different profile to Rogers, relying more on subtle touches than explosive carries, but the underlying principle was identical. Alonso wanted one of his inside forwards receiving on the half-turn before driving directly at retreating defenders.
Rogers does precisely that.
His willingness to carry possession over long distances also creates a different problem for opponents. Most attacking midfielders seek combinations. Rogers is equally happy eliminating two or three defenders himself before releasing the ball at the last possible moment.
That forces defensive lines to collapse towards him, opening spaces elsewhere.
Those spaces are exactly where Palmer comes into the picture.
Rather than competing for the same position, Palmer and Rogers should complement one another beautifully.
Palmer remains one of football's smartest interpreters of space. He drifts naturally towards the right half-space, constantly searching for passing angles and opportunities to thread through balls into runners ahead of him. Rogers, meanwhile, prefers receiving from the left before driving inside with the ball.
The symmetry is obvious. When Rogers carries possession centrally, Palmer can arrive unnoticed on the opposite side. When Palmer drops deeper to orchestrate attacks, Rogers has the athleticism to burst beyond Joao Pedro and attack the penalty area. Defenders attempting to double up on one inevitably leave the other isolated against a single marker.
Pedro may be the biggest beneficiary of all.
The Brazilian's game is built upon movement rather than occupying centre-backs. He regularly vacates the penalty area to link play before spinning into space, dragging defenders with him and creating gaps for others to exploit. Those movements should dovetail naturally with Rogers' instinct to attack inside channels.
Instead of asking Rogers to hug the touchline, Alonso is likely to encourage him to become an extra forward whenever Pedro vacates the central lane. Chelsea would often resemble a front three rotating continuously rather than remaining fixed in their starting positions.
That unpredictability has long been a hallmark of Alonso's attacking football.
His Leverkusen side frequently appeared to abandon positions altogether. Wing-backs became wingers. Inside forwards drifted into midfield. Midfielders suddenly appeared beyond the striker. The objective was never chaos for its own sake, but ensuring opponents constantly faced difficult decisions about who should pick up whom.
Rogers thrives in those environments because he rarely makes the same movement twice.
His physical profile also offers Chelsea something they have occasionally lacked against organised defensive blocks. While Palmer excels through disguise and subtlety, Rogers simply overwhelms defenders.
At over six feet tall and powerfully built, he welcomes contact rather than avoiding it. He can receive with his back to goal, roll opponents and burst into open grass in a way few attacking midfielders can replicate.
Alonso values exactly that kind of vertical threat.
There will, inevitably, be adjustments.
One of the defining features of Alonso's teams has been their intensity without possession. His attacking players are expected to counter-press immediately after losing the ball before retreating into an organised defensive structure if the first press is bypassed.
Rogers has improved enormously in that aspect of his game over the past two seasons, but maintaining that concentration over an entire campaign will become even more important at Chelsea.
The size of the transfer fee will ensure scrutiny arrives from the opening weekend. Every quiet performance will invite questions about whether Chelsea overpaid.
Yet this feels like one of those signings where the tactical fit matters more than the price.
Too often, Rogers has been viewed as a player who sits awkwardly between established positions. Alonso's system turns that supposed weakness into the defining feature of the role itself.
Instead of asking whether he is a winger or a No.10, Chelsea's new head coach is likely to ask him to be both at once.
Few players in the Premier League are better equipped to fulfil that brief.
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