Agreed. We are literally years off challenging for the title but in terms of top four we were only 5 points off last season, despite both early and late season collapses. Since then Chelsea have lost their manager, star player and the ability to make transfers, potentially making next year's top four race that much easier from our point of view.
Signings like AWB, James and Longstaff would be for the future, sure, but I don't see why they couldn't also help bridge that five point gap next year too.