As his first summer transfer window as manager at Stamford Bridge looms, Chelsea’s former captain has a great deal of work to do to revive the weakest side of the Roman Abramovich era

One team moved on; the other regressed. Whereas Bayern Munich have spent the past eight years ruthlessly honing their squad, Chelsea have fallen a long way since beating the German club in the Champions League final of 2012.

Past glories count for little at the highest level and the manner of Chelsea’s humbling by Bayern at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday demonstrates the size of the task facing Frank Lampard, who will require major backing in the summer if he is to revive the weakest side of the Roman Abramovich era.

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Chelsea have not been a force at the highest level since Lampard captained them to European glory against Bayern on 19 May 2012. They have not made it past the last 16 of the Champions League since 2014, when they lost to Atlético Madrid in the semi-finals, and will surely make a quiet exit when they visit Bayern for the second leg on 18 March. Lampard knows the chances of a miraculous comeback at the Allianz Arena are slim to none and has suggested that his main task now is ensuring Chelsea do not miss out on qualification for the competition next season.

How it did come to this? Most of the problems predate Lampard. It is not his fault that he arrived at a club operating under a transfer embargo last summer. Lampard was unable to sign a replacement after Eden Hazard joined Real Madrid and there was more frustration when Chelsea, able to re-enter the market after the court of arbitration for sport lifted their ban in December, made no signings in January.

Lampard cannot be blamed for Chelsea’s recent questionable signings. It is not his fault that Chelsea replaced Diego Costa with Álvaro Morata, or that it has been a while since they competed for the most glamorous and expensive players. Lampard has inherited a squad low on top quality and while it has been heartening to see him promote players from the academy, those youngsters cannot be relied upon to perform consistently.

Hopefully Reece James and Mason Mount will benefit from their tough night against Bayern. But after a blistering start to the season, the goals have dried up for Tammy Abraham. The youngsters need help. So does Lampard, a rookie coach who has done pretty well to lift Chelsea into fourth place.

The signing of Hakim Ziyech, who will arrive from Ajax in the summer, is a start. The Moroccan winger will give Chelsea more creativity.

Chelsea, three points above Manchester United after beating Tottenham last weekend, will find it easier to land forward targets such as RB Leipzig’s Timo Werner or Lyon’s Moussa Dembélé if they qualify for the Champions League. Lampard is ready to be ruthless. He has assessed his squad and it was interesting to hear him say that Mateo Kovacic was the only player who looked at ease against Bayern.

There are issues in several positions. Kepa Arrizabalaga has lost his place in goal to Willy Caballero, who is out of contract in the summer. At the very least Chelsea need a new No 2 goalkeeper and, quite possibly, a replacement for Arrizabalaga. There is interest in Paris Saint-Germain’s Alphonse Areola, currently on loan at Real Madrid, Ajax’s André Onana and Burnley’s Nick Pope. The challenge would be finding a buyer for Arrizabalaga, who cost £71.6m.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Frank Lampard thought that Mateo Kovacic was the only Chelsea player who looked at ease against Bayern. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

Not that the Spaniard is Chelsea’s only problem at the back. Lampard is not convinced by either Emerson Palmieri or Marcos Alonso at left-back – he wants Leicester’s Ben Chilwell, who would not be cheap – and it is understood that he has reservations about Antonio Rüdiger. A centre-back capable of educating young players such as Andreas Christensen and Fikayo Tomori would not go amiss.

There is less to solve in midfield, even if N’Golo Kanté has struggled with injuries this season. Although Jorginho’s lack of pace was shown up against Bayern, Kovacic has improved. Mount has bags of potential, Billy Gilmour is one for the future and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who has returned from a serious achilles injury, will offer goals and creativity once up to speed.

The problems tend to be further forward. Lampard has lost count of the times he has bemoaned his side’s finishing and there has been an imagination deficit in too many games. The contrast with Bayern, who had a front four of Kingsley Coman, Serge Gnabry, Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Müller, was painful. Chelsea had Mount and Ross Barkley floating off Olivier Giroud, who has never cut it in the Champions League.

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Lampard needs forwards and attacking midfielders capable of delivering on a consistent basis. That does not sound like Barkley, who flatters to deceive too much, and it does not sound like Giroud, Willian or Pedro, an ageing trio out of contract in the summer. They are decent players but it is time for Chelsea, who are missing the pace of the injured Christian Pulisic and Callum Hudson-Odoi, to let them go. As for Michy Batshuayi, he has repeatedly shown he is not good enough to deputise for Abraham.

Yet it remains to be seen how far Chelsea are prepared to go; whether Abramovich is ready to spend more than £100m on Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho. The England winger is available this summer and there was a time when Chelsea would have seemed an obvious destination. It has not been that way for a while, though, and that is why Lampard’s prediction about his team suffering against Bayern came true.