Villas-Boas tasked with reviving stagnant Chelsea squad

Chelsea's acquisition of Andre Villas-Boas for a fee of £13.3 million, as well as breaking the transfer records of half of the Premier League, seems to signal a change in policy for Blue's owner Roman Abramovich.

At 33 Villas-Boas will be the youngest top-flight manager next year and will have to begin to overhaul an ageing Chelsea side, with several of the players entering their final years, and accordingly final shot at winning the Champions League. Key characters Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard are the same age as the Portuguese treble winner and may lose out in what is expected to be a revitalised Chelsea side next season.

At Porto Villas-Boas employed an attacking 4-3-3 formation, which has inevitably already drawn comparisons with the approach favoured by Jose Mourinho in his first two seasons at Stamford Bridge, before he was bogged down towards a more negative approach. Assuming Chelsea's new man utilises the system that worked so well for Porto last season; there is only one spot for an out-and-out striker in the starting 11, casting doubt on the fate of Chelsea's existing strikers.

Fernando Torres' arrival as Abramovich's new play-thing last January for £50 million suggests that the team is to be built around the Spaniard, rather than shunting him out to the wing in a attacking 4-3-3 formation, where he is unlikely to be effective. Chelsea's other senior strikers; Drogba, Anelka and Daniel Sturridge, are also unlikely to prosper if played as wingers in the formation, which leaves them striker heavy and light on wingers.

The imminent arrival of Porto's 41 goal man, Falcao, at Stamford Bridge, casts further doubt on the futures of Chelsea's striking line-up. Falcao has already expressed a desire to be reunited with his former manager at Chelsea, and if he does it is not going to be for a place out on the wing, in either sense of the word.

What Chelsea are in short supply of is attacking midfielders who can play on the flanks and are capable of beating their respective defenders; bursting forward and tracking back with equal gusto. At present only Malouda, Kalou and Zhirkov could fill these roles and all three are coming of the back of what were individually disappointing seasons.

They look set to lose out to either Manchester City or Barcelona to the signing of the most coveted winger available this summer, in Udinese's Alexis Sanchez, so need to act quickly if they are to find the kind of players who will invigorate the ageing and narrow Chelsea team of recent years.

Villas-Boas's arrival this summer may not be enough, for a club who's sole managerial objective has manifest itself as becoming champions of Europe. The heavy investment in January, in Torres and Luiz, have shown that Abramovich still has his sights on European glory but the re-invigoration of the Chelsea squad must not end there if the players are finally to realise their owners dream of finally succeeding in UEFA's show-piece event.