It is good to be back, and it is great to have the Premier League back and ready to go. Before anything else however, it is important to mention England’s Women’s Euro success. Fran Kirby and Millie Bright were both a huge part of the win that signposts yet another huge leap forward in the game.

Covering the Championships, I said on the BBC even before a ball was kicked that England would be winners, but they still had to go out and do it under the pressure of expectation of a nation. That took ability and serious strength of character. It was a glorious tournament and after that final there were among the greatest celebrations you will ever see on the pitch following a football match.

Chelsea FC, not just through providing players for the winners, has been at the forefront of driving the women’s game forward and adding to the professionalism and support of the women, so the club should take more than a little credit for the national success.

• 'We're as ready as we can be'

• Unseen video from our two wins in Italy

• Thiago talks about his Koulibaly link-up

The players can bask in the glory for a while yet but attention will eventually have to be shared with the men again. The build-up to our first men’s match in anger has been just that, only a build-up, and it is hard to know how much to read into the performances or the results.

The team has flown around the planet a bit as usual and that can have an effect on preparation but try naming a team that doesn’t do that. It is part of the deal and all that really matters is that by this weekend, everybody is fit, sharp and understands exactly what the manager wants from them.

The usual start-of-season difficulty is fitting in the new arrivals to the system and to the other players that might initially be a little unfamiliar to them. I am not convinced that will be too big a problem for Chelsea as Kalidou Koulibaly and Raheem Sterling are top-drawer players who know their positions well enough and should be ready to roll right way. It is not as if we are changing half a team, so it shouldn’t be too big a deal.

Raheem has the advantage of having played an entire career at the top level in England so nothing will be a surprise to him. A scorer and a creator, he will clearly add something to the squad but maybe his ace card for us is that he is adaptable.

Playing under Pep Guardiola in the Man City system he has learned a huge amount about being a wide attacker, centre-forward, false nine and even playing behind a striker. We do have a number of players in our squad who are similarly adaptable such as Kai Havertz, Christian Pulisic and Callum Hudson-Odoi for starters, as well as Timo Werner, so that gives the manager even more options to change the system in game, even before he has to make substitutions.

Koulibaly will be expected to fit in quickly and he will have to. Yes, he has played comfortably in the top level in Italy but the Premier League is different, you never get a break, there are few easy games and the pressure never stops. If you are slack at the back, you lose goals quickly no matter who you play against. That said, I think we all believe he will be perfectly fine and that has been a good bit of business.

It is no secret that Thomas Tuchel and the owners are on the lookout for another centre-back. Understandably Emma Hayes will not let us borrow Millie Bright who didn't put a foot wrong during the Euros!

Clearly with Thiago Silva, Koulibaly, Reece James, Cesar Azpilicueta, Trevoh Chalobah and Malang Sarr, we can put out a decent back line, but at least one more centre-back of the highest quality for that back three is required if we are going to be safe from the ravages of the season. We might announce one at any moment, that is just the way the business is right now.

People may say it seems a bit late in the day to be sorting this, but in reality there is often nothing you can do about that. Some clubs got their business done early such as Man City and Liverpool, but it was harder for the Blues with all that happened in the second half of last season. Even so, there were targets chosen in good time, but as usual the players, the clubs and the agents are not against a little brinkmanship to push up values costs.

That has affected not just the Blues but quite a number of other teams this summer. There are a lot of clubs in the market to splash the cash, just look at how keen the likes of Man Utd, Everton and Newcastle are to add numbers. As such, some players and sellers are taking their time to decide. It is hard to blame them, even though it is infuriating when you lose one or two you thought you had.

The transfer window is open for another month yet, even if it feels like the ‘ins and outs’ should be sorted by this weekend. Sadly, as I say, that is the way the market is working just now and it is vital to understand that it is worth waiting to get the player you really want rather than the one you can get two or three weeks earlier.

What anyone else does is secondary, it is about getting your own squad sorted and ensuring the quality and the quantity is right. It has been noticeable that when you look at the players acquired and released by clubs in the Premier League this season, there seems to be a decent amount of clearing out being done. Although you must have enough players for all the competitions, the quality is the key to success at this level.

In the meantime it is Everton at the weekend and I am looking forward to popping back to another of my old haunts for the opener. Spare a thought for Frank Lampard and the Everton fans at Goodison Park, most of them tell me they need another half-a-dozen signings immediately. It puts our smaller concerns into some perspective.