The loan transfer of Radamel Falcao to Chelsea has thrown up many questions, but perhaps nobody at Stamford Bridge is facing more uncertainty right now than Patrick Bamford.
The 21-year-old forward is in something of a state of limbo after a stunning season in the Championship with Middlesbrough, as he scored 19 goals and was named the Football League's Player of the Year.
Jose Mourinho seemed to take a shine to him, staying in constant contact with Boro manager and close friend Aitor Karanka about his form and attitude, and offering him a new five-year deal at the end of the campaign.
Yet, with Falcao, Diego Costa and Loic Remy all with the Blues at this point, Bamford likely finds himself fourth on the pecking order at a vital point of his young career. So what are his options from here?
Option One: Stay with Chelsea
The player himself has made no secret of his preferred road to take; he wants to impress Mourinho in pre-season, get an opportunity in the first team and grab it with both hands.
Yet, even for a player of his obvious talent and commitment, this will not be an easy task. Bamford has spent the off-season bulking up in an attempt to ready himself for the rigours of the Premier League, and his missing England's disastrous European Under-21 Championships will have done him a power of good in terms of recharging his batteries after a long season which he finished playing through the pain of an ankle injury.
Mourinho has already spoken of his desire to blood the club's brightest youth prospects and Ruben Loftus-Cheek has been one of the figureheads of this movement, but the pressure to field Bamford will not be so high.
Costa was one of the best strikers in the division last season, and his place in the first eleven is guaranteed. Remy proved himself an able replacement when called upon, while the expense laid out in bringing in Falcao places a degree of financial pressure on Mourinho to give the Colombian playing time in order to justify his loan fee and wages.
The same could, however, have been said about Roberto Soldado and Harry Kane down the road at White Hart Lane before the beginning of last season. Kane's form in the Europa League eventually made him a must-pick for Mauricio Pochettino - Bamford needs to produce something similar, either in the domestic cups or potentially in the Champions League group stage if Chelsea are handed a favourable draw.
Option Two: A Premier League loan spell
If the former MK Dons and Derby County loanee fails to make a substantial claim to be let loose in the Premier League over the course of pre-season, Chelsea will still have time to find him a top-flight loan club, the natural next stage in his career progression after time in the third and second divisions.
Bamford has already shot down Newcastle United's advances, but he is clever enough to know that sitting on the Chelsea bench for a season would hamper his development - he had a scholarship offer from Harvard, after all.
He would have no shortage of suitors. Southampton and Aston Villa are among half a dozen Premier League sides thought to be interested in his signature, and his style would be welcome at either.
The Saints have an excellent track record of helping young players realise their potential, and Villa boss Tim Sherwood will never tire of reminding us of the part he played in the aforementioned Kane's development. If Chelsea turns out not to be a viable option in the short-term, a mid-table Premier League club where he can establish himself as first- or second-choice would be a welcome replacement.
Option Three: A Premier League transfer
Should something put it in Bamford's mind that he will "never play for Chelsea" as numerous sets of Championship away fans attested last season, a permanent exit from the Bridge would be far from impossible.
As with the loan situation, there would be no lack of teams ready to take him on. In a world where Tyrone Mings is worth £8million and Nathaniel Clyne only twelve and a half, the widely-circulated asking price of £10million wouldn't pose too much of a risk for a player younger than both and in a generally more expensive position.
A move away has worked with varying degrees of success in recent seasons, with former Chelsea boys Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne cases in point.
Lukaku seemed freed when on loan with West Brom and Everton but as soon as he made the switch to the latter permanently, his form dipped and he has looked at times a shadow of his former self. While this could be simply an extreme version of 'second-season syndrome', his last year or so proves that a permanent solution isn't always the best one.
De Bruyne was something of the inverse. His original loan escape to the Bundesliga with Werder Bremen was good, but he didn't hit the exceptional heights he managed with Wolfsburg last year. In the season just finished, the Belgium man was released from the shackles of Mourinho-ite defensive responsibility and encouraged to play his own game. Bamford could do worse than a similar year.
Mourinho's recent five-year extension offer means that this option is unlikely, though an extended contract does, of course, mean a heftier price tag. Chelsea have made a pleasant habit of bringing in exorbitant fees for unwanted players in recent years so, if Bamford is consigned to the Stamford Bridge scrapheap, don't expect him to leave on the cheap.
Option Four: Take the plunge and move abroad
One of the key differences between the transfers of Lukaku and De Bruyne is - despite neither of them being English-born or trained - that the more successful move took De Bruyne away from the Premier League.
Were Bamford to do the same, it would be a huge break from the traditions of English players, though those who do move abroad - Ryan Gauld and Eric Dier in Portugal, for example - rarely come back with a bad word to say.
The expectation on young English players of Bamford's calibre is huge, and the exploits of Kane, Danny Ings, John Stones and co. go some way to proving that the best young guns of the Premier League are by no means the best young guns of the world.
It is unclear whether Bamford's name attracted much attention overseas last season, or whether there are any clubs who would be keen on taking him in, but the opportunity to move abroad would be incredible in terms of improving and developing his game technically, tactically and ideologically.
Option Five: Return to Teesside
As seemingly the entire population of Middlesbrough has made abundantly clear on Twitter since his departure, the possibility of Bamford returning to the Riverside Stadium for another crack at promotion is not quite zero.
It is close to zero, granted - the sheer number of clubs interested in Bamford and his own desire to establish himself at Chelsea make sure of that - but he did claim in the aftermath of Wembley defeat that he would like to return to help the club at some point in the future.
At this stage, his future rests more in the hands of Chelsea than it does in his own. If they are serious about developing him to the point of a first-team regular, it is they who will decide for the most part where he will play his football next season.
That means that he will only be sent out on loan to a side which Mourinho is confident will be right for his young star. The constant chaos of Newcastle, the presence of Pelle, Rodriguez and Long ahead of him at Southampton and any number of factors could see a club checked off The Special One's list of potential destinations.
Mourinho likes Middlesbrough. It is a club under the management of a trusted former assistant and treasured friend, with Premier League-quality training facilities and a history of developing young players - especially, in recent years, young players from Chelsea.
So, if no club matches his manager's criteria for a loan spell, or even if a short-term loan in the Premier League goes wrong for any reason, Bamford could still return to the Championship next year; but at this point, to do so would be in the realms of a last resort.