The young talent hasn’t lived up to expectations so far in west London but his new gaffer has ideas on how to get more out of him
New Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel is delighted to be working with Kai Havertz and has vowed to get the best out of a player he believes possesses “endless talent” by continuing to push the 21-year-old and helping him adapt to the physicality of the Premier League.
Havertz has struggled since joining Chelsea in a £70 million ($96m) transfer from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer and is currently on an 11-game goal drought.
However, Tuchel’s arrival saw the Germany international immediately improve with a bright performance in the 0-0 draw at home to Wolves and the head coach believes that Havertz will show more in the near future and perform better than he did under Frank Lampard.
“His potential is endless,” Tuchel told reporters. “It has been a challenge for him and I think he made a brave choice [coming to Chelsea].
“First I have to explain that I’m a huge fan of Bayer Leverkusen in terms of how they developed as a club for years, the players they develop and the quality of football they play. But you come from Leverkusen to Chelsea and the culture cannot be any more different.
“You go from a club that are okay to be second or third best, maybe reach the top four. It is a high level and they have all my respect, but you then go to a club which talk about trophies and winning titles so openly…
“It’s like Bayern Munich – they demand titles, titles, titles every year. It does something to the club atmosphere.
“So Kai steps not only to a different country, club, team-mates, which is in itself complicated and a challenge, but he changes the club culture in a dramatic way. I love it because he is far out of his comfort zone.
“What I feel from him is that he is a very intelligent, friendly and open guy who has a lot of potential – and we will push him. He seems like the guy who needs to be pushed and we won’t stop doing it.
“For him, this league is perfect because he cannot rest. He has so much potential that he needs to be challenged physically, so he doesn’t just rely on his endless talent. This is good. In the end, the question is: does he show his teeth in the end when it gets tough?
“I was happy yesterday that it was him who got the almost decisive header in the box against all these towering, strong players from Wolverhampton. It would have been a nice moment at the end of the match.
“He doesn’t hesitate and this is what I want to see from him. Then the rest will come, because this guy can be a huge, huge part of this club.”
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