Former Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti says they must rebuild.
Ancelotti believes Chelsea must focus on building a new generation of 'strong personalities' to compete at the top level again.
He told Sport: "Every club has good moments and bad moments, and it's a period for Chelsea now of transition.
"They had a fantastic period with strong personalities such as John Terry, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole... now they have to build a new Terry, a new Lampard, a new Cole.
"Also at AC Milan the same, when they lost Paolo Maldini, Gennaro Gattuso, Andrea Pirlo - they need time to build other players who represent the club.
"This is what is happening at Chelsea. There are a lot of examples. Manchester United are the same - you lose Rio Ferdinand, [Gary] Neville, [Paul] Scholes, [Ryan] Giggs.
"They have to build new players who represent the club. That is absolutely normal."