Everton boss Frank Lampard admits he'll be seeking to upgrade the spine of the team this summer.

Lampard is looking forward to the prospect of working alongside Director of Football Kevin Thelwell to improve his squad.

"I've been thinking about [the longer-term], obviously it's been second in the list of priorities because we had to get this done - but now we'll continue to think about that because we want to take the Club forward," said Lampard.

"It has to improve. We have to improve. I have to. I have to get to work in pre-season and have a pre-season with the players, myself and the staff will have chance to do that work now.

"We'll look at how we can work [with the players] which is the first thing, then, about how we can add to improve.

"Can we make the squad stronger and more balanced? I believe we can. It's important we look at it that way - and it's important we look at it quickly.

"We have that. We have Kevin Thelwell now, we have the Board who want to get the best out of this club.

"We don't want to be here next year but we understand if we don't make positive moves then it's possible, so we'll be ready to move on that quickly.

"If we want to start playing a bit better between the lines, then it starts from the back and we'll look at all the things through the middle of the pitch.

"I also want the squad to be more robust.

"We've had far too many injuries - we came into injuries and those injuries continued and ramped up. We lost two centre-backs in my first week here, one for 10 weeks, the other for five weeks. Then, we lost them again later on.

"There are things we have to look at around the whole situation that can help that stuff."