Frank Lampard conceded the rebuilding job at Chelsea is a "work in progress" after seeing his side unceremoniously dumped out of the Champions League by Bayern Munich.
Already leading 3-0 from the first leg at Stamford Bridge in February, before the coronavirus pandemic halted the competition, Bayern rounded the last-16 tie off with a thumping 4-1 win at the Allianz Arena, with Robert Lewandowski twice on target and having a hand in the other two goals.
Chelsea's record scorer Lampard enjoyed a trophy-laden spell with them as a player, winning the Premier League and Champions League among other crowns, but suggested that they needed to recruit the right names to reach that level again.
"In the last 20 years we had players, teams with prime [Eden] Hazard, [Diego] Costa, [Petr] Cech, [John] Terry and [Didier] Drogba," Lampard told BT Sport.
"Competing for the Premier League year on year, getting to finals and semi-finals regularly. We know that's not the case now ... It's not a slight work in progress. It's a work in progress. It's not the norm for Chelsea."
The manner of the defeat put something of a dampener on Lampard's first season in charge coming a week after losing the FA Cup final to Arsenal, though the Englishman did guide the Blues to a fourth-place finish to ensure Champions League football next term.
Lampard said he would look to further bolster his squad in the close season, having already spent big money to recruit Hakim Ziyech from Ajax and Timo Werner from RB Leipzig.
The West London club have been linked with moves for a host of players, including Bayer Leverkusen attacker Kai Havertz, Leicester City left-back Ben Chilwell, Real Madrid's Sergio Reguilon, Brighton defender Lewis Dunk, and Crystal Palace forward Wilfried Zaha.
"We'll look at that, because that's our job," Lampard added. "From having a transfer ban [last year] you feel we've missed where other clubs spent and improved ... recruitment is a huge part of this game.
"Nights like this in a footballing sense, show me a lot, tell me a lot."
