Chelsea manager Antonio Conte was reportedly not included in transfer negotiations in the final days of the summer window.
The relationship between the coach and board is believed to be tense due to the club's transfer activity, but Conte dispelled reports that he was considering leaving by signing a new contract earlier in the summer.
The Blues recruited Antonio Rudiger, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Alvaro Morata, but they lost Nemanja Matic and missed out on signing Romelu Lukaku, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ross Barkley and Fernando Llorente.
According to The Times, the Chelsea hierarchy prevented Conte from speaking to Barkley and deadline-day signing Danny Drinkwater following the manager's failure to convince Oxlade-Chamberlain to move to Stamford Bridge.
It is believed that the 48-year-old wanted the England international to provide competition for Victor Moses at wing-back, but Conte's target ended up choosing Liverpool in the hope of playing in a more central midfield role.
The report claims that Barkley's decision to snub a move to Stamford Bridge in favour of staying at Everton was in part because he did not speak to Conte directly.
Chelsea technical director Michael Emenalo and director Marina Granovskaia took charge of every piece of transfer business in the summer.
