Chelsea manager Frank Lampard believes Champions League football will attract signings to the club.
The Blues boss is aware his team must step up a few levels to challenge for the Premier League title.
Chelsea are being linked with a move for Kai Havertz from Bayer Leverkusen, and have already signed Timo Werner from RB Leipzig and Hakim Ziyech from Ajax.
And he hopes finishing in the top four can show prospective signings the club is going in the right direction.
"It's massively important for the club," Lampard told reporters, via Goal.
"Not just for the prestige. But if you are a club on the world stage like Chelsea have been you want to compete at the highest level and attract players of the highest level.
"It obviously generates money for the club, let's make no bones about it. So you understand why there is such intense scrutiny on who finishes in the top four. It would have been unheard of a good few years ago. Now it becomes not a trophy but an accomplishment in itself.
"We want to move further than that so we look on upwards in the Premier League but getting into the Champions League has to be, even with the way this year the season has gone, it has to be an aim for us."
