TAMMY ABRAHAM admits he is going to need to take his game to a new level to beat Timo Werner to the main striking role at Chelsea.
Abraham enjoyed a decent first full season in the Blues‘ first team last season with 19 goals – yet the £45million arrival of Werner at Stamford Bridge leaves his place under serious threat.
But the 22-year-old England star is not prepared to give up his place in Frank Lampard’s side without a fight.
He said: “This is something I’ve been dreaming of as a kid so I have to fight for my spot, it’s never going to come easy.
“It didn’t come easy at the start of the season but I worked myself into the team and that’s what I have to keep doing.
“This is Chelsea Football Club. There’s always going to be high standards and high competition.”
Abraham scored Chelsea’s consolation goal as they were given another lesson by Bayern Munich about what it really takes to be one of European football’s elite side.
But it was only his fourth strike in 2020 as he struggled to maintain his early season promise as injuries and a loss of form hit home in the second half of the campaign.
At the opposite end of the pitch Robert Lewandowski was delivering yet another masterclass with a double that took his tally for Bayern this season to 47 in all competitions.
Abraham says he couldn’t help but admire what he saw first-hand as the brilliant Pole put the Blues to the sword in brutal fashion.
He added: “For me he’s the best striker in the world right now and that’s the level I have to get to and better.
“That’s what I aspire to be and coming here, playing against him is a great learning curve, a great experience for me.
“Building to next season and onwards I have to build myself to get to those high levels.
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“It’s been a phenomenal season for myself and the lads. I couldn’t ask for a better season.
“I have had a few niggles here and there but I have come out stronger and I have just got to build myself for next season, start well, end well and that’s my aim.
“This is the level so next season I have to raise my bar and go again.
“I think that’s the level we’ve got to get to. We’re a new, young side, with a new manager. That’s the first season so we have to be pleased with ourselves.”
The two games against Bayern have done as much to shape boss Lampard’s thoughts for the future than any success the team has had.
They have provided the clearest evidence of where the current side fall short – and which players he might not be able to take with him on his mission to revive the London club’s fortunes.
At the top of the pitch they looked sorted, with Werner and Hakim Ziyech already on board and the bid for Leverkusen star Kai Havertz a long way down the line.
It is at the back where urgent work is needed to give Chelsea any chance of competing domestically and in Europe next season – and Lampard admitted after the match there is only a short time to get their transfer business done.
Neither Willy Caballero or Kepa are the answer in goal – and that will be one of the main priorities to resolve when he sits down with sporting director Petr Cech and supremo Marina Granovskaia.
Jan Oblak at Atletico Madrid and Burnley’s Nick Pope are options there, while Declan Rice is seen as a potential leader to come in and sort the problems in the middle of the Chelsea defence.
Andreas Christensen, Kurt Zouma and Toni Rudiger all have question marks hanging over their futures, the same for Marcos Alonso out on the left.
The right is sorted with the emergence of Reece James, who showed his growing class with an impressive display at the Allianz Arena – now they just need to get the balance of someone who can be trusted on the opposite side.
Ben Chilwell has been the long-term target there, although Sevilla’s Sergio Reguilon may be a cheaper option than the £60m Leicester want for their left-back.
Lampard says work has already started on getting deals done, now he will want them accelerated so he has as many available when the season begins in little over a month.
