Yes but Chelsea did have a transfer ban in place throughout the 19/20 season.
This whole bollox about Chelsea having been banned was a joke. I can't recall if they appealed and had time to buy players until they were banned, but I do remember that they moved up their summer transfer plans to the winter window.
That's when they got Pulisic and loaned him back to Dortmund till the end of the season, so they could have his registration before the ban.
They had also loaned Kovacic from Madrid the previous summer, and because they had his registration, they decided to make his transfer a permanent one during the summer window when they were banned.
Come the summer their business was done, and then they just sat out the next winter window.
If you think about it they spent about 90 million when they were actually banned. They are the most creative at bending rules to the max. Then they splash out 200 million the following summer. Their ban was also after the summer they brought in jorginho, kepa, higuain, maurizio sarri and others.
They are notorious spenders offset by their astute selling when they sell discarded players for suspiciously crazy money. Remember oscar to china?
So we should all stop pedalling the banned folk tale.