With the Premier League's first big summer deals already making headlines it is easy to forget that the transfer window doesn't actually open for another three or four weeks.

But everyone knows, in the modern chess game of football's talent market, if you snooze you lose. That's why we have seen a clutch of deals make back-page headlines this week: , Jamie Vardy to Arsenal, Ilkay Gundogan to Manchester City.

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However, with the clubs usually expected to be challenging Chelsea at the top end of the table all buying early – why the silence from Stamford Bridge?

Firstly, these are three deals that don't really interest the Blues. Ibrahimovic, in one version of his future, may well have been the man to do it off the bench for Chelsea in 2016-17. But, in one swift move last December, all the smart money switched towards him being Old Trafford-bound: for anyone who has flicked through his autobiography knows, there is a lot of man-love between him and Jose Mourinho.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Jose Mourinho (Eurosport) Image credit: Eurosport

Vardy, incredible though his season has been, has provided only fleeting interest to Chelsea. And Gundogan seems to have been a Guardiola target from the very moment coach and club were linked.

Within the margins of all this, there is plenty of evidence that Chelsea's transfer fixers are certainly not idling away the early summer weeks on a beach somewhere. There is clear suggestion, in the form of Radja Nainggolan's public statements this weekend, that Antonio Conte's wish list is being acted upon.

Less a traditional 'come and get me plea', than a formal request for the Sat Nav coordinates of Cobham, it seems many will be very disappointed if the move for Nainggolan fails to come off - not least the player.

The heavy hint that all the Belgian and his employers AS Roma are waiting for is a bid, suggests Nainggolan may be packing his case for London just as soon as his country's interest in Euro 2016 is over.

Euro Papers: Chelsea make £33million Radja Nainggolan bid as Antonio Conte shapes his new side Image credit: Eurosport

It is important to remember here that Conte and Nainggolan are due to come up against one another on June 13 when Italy take on Belgium in Lyon – and there is a certain amount of eggshell-treading here when it comes to the public perception of both men in their home countries.

The same issues persist with other potential targets: fellow Belgian Romelu Lukaku of Everton and his present club-mate John Stones, who could theoretically come up against Conte's Italy at some point in the coming weeks.

In essence, these are all issues connected with recruiting a manager direct from an international tournament – particularly so, one in charge of a national side with such a voracious footballing media as Italy.

In all three cases, Chelsea are looking at players who seem to have reached the end of the road with their own club, and there is at least circumstantial evidence they are ready to buy into the Chelsea-Conte project.

England's John Stones Image credit: Reuters

There are also pointers to the behind-the-scenes work going on in what Eden Hazard said about his immediate future this weekend. With those comments about leaving Lille “like a boss”, and only wanting to move on from Chelsea in the same circumstances, he basically formalised what most people have expected for a while now.

There is no benefit to either player or club in Hazard being sold at the bottom of the market, and there is a strong incentive for both to pull out a decent season, in order to turn around the player's fortunes for next summer.

Chelsea sources are adamant there will be a fair bit of dealing before September arrives. Not a whole team bought and sold, but a good number of players, including our old friend the 'marquee signing' (or possibly 'signings').

At the moment, it merely seems to suit most of the main parties to keep things quiet. With Conte being freed from his other obligations in July, and with the club looking to add a bit of shine to their tarnished image ahead of the big brand-building trip to the USA late that month and in early August, that should be when things really start to take shape.

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