Chelsea's humiliating defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich will see the Premier League club pressing the overhaul button when summertime comes. At least, eight members of the roster will get the ax in a reported merciless purge that manager Frank Lampard is set to implement.
The Champions League 3-0 loss showed the glaring inadequacies of the Blues. The club went against a Bayern Munich that displayed grace and precision. It was hardly a surprise that the Bundesliga giants won, but it was stunning all the same.
Bayern did everything right, and Chelsea could not find the answers to the onslaught up to the last minute. Lampard knew after the match that he has work to do. He must fine-tune his squad - fire some members and look for new hires.
Talk Sport said a rebuild is inevitable and the casualty count will be significant.
"There are eight players who are expected to either leave Stamford Bridge or be given significantly reduced roles," the report said.
Those identified in the chopping block are Kepa Arrizabalaga, Ross Barkley, Jorginho, Kurt Zouma, Marcos Alonso, Emerson Palmieri, Pedro, and Willian. The latter two are seen as experienced strikers but deemed ready to exit the pitch for good.
Lampard said it would appear that a massacre is in the offing, but the move is necessary if Chelsea will be moving up. The grand plan is to make the club highly competitive. The boss he is gunning for the top not make the Top 4 cut, and that will be the case once the rebuild has been completed.
To beef up the club and make for title-contention status, Chelsea will have to make four to five signings in the summer window, according to Owen Hargreaves.
The former Bayern Munich star reminded everyone that when hunting for talents, the focus has to be on the quality as the Blues sorely lack players with sufficient football skills and experience.
"Real quality players who can make the difference. Every Bayern Munich player made a difference today at some point in the game," Metro reported Hargreaves as saying.
In effecting his planned overhaul, it is crucial that Lampard will impress on the squad his unique brand of philosophy, according to Rio Ferdinand.
"He's also going to have to dip into that transfer market and make some waves with the opportunity he has in the next window," said the Manchester United legend.
For his part, Lampard said the sorry performance versus Bayern indicated that Chelsea would need to work doubly hard to get to the level of rival teams. In the case of Bayern Munich, the boss conceded: "They outclassed us in every department and it's quite sobering."
Lampard, however, reminded that after the humbling loss, the Blues must "work towards getting back to the levels we want to be at."
