Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has insisted he has no doubt that Kai Havertz will become a great player at Stamford Bridge.
The German arrived at Chelsea this summer in an initial £61m deal and was immediately included in the starting line-up for Chelsea’s season opener against Brighton and Hove Albion. He endured a difficult debut and was brought on towards the end of the game after failing to make an impact.
Howertz’s debut didn’t go as planned / Pool / Getty Images
While Havertz’s command has been far from ideal, Lampard claimed in a press conference (via the club’s official website) that he has no doubts about the 21-year-old’s quality and ability.
“I was able to have a few conversations with Kai as the purchase went through,” Lampard explained.
“I watched as much as I could as a player and by that time Timo Werner had arrived at the club and Timo and Kai were quite close, so I could ask him a lot about Kai. That national team. I play. Together, we had some great background on him, and I was very impressed with Kai, from the first conversation, with his humility and who he is as a person.
Werner helped convince Chelsea to sign Havertz/VI-Images/Getty Images.
“[Humility] Come with the idea that they just want to improve and come here to be successful. I know he has great talent and I’ve seen that in the first week he’s been here.
“It must be clear that before the Brighton game he trained for four or five days and two or three of those were to prepare for a game, when you can’t even work that hard. Kai K. So the fitness levels were. It’s very difficult and he’s only going to get better and he’s going to get better very quickly. I’ve definitely seen big parts of his talent and with Timo, I’ve no doubt. What impact he’s going to have as a Chelsea player here.”
Chelsea have attracted plenty of attention for their summer spending spree, but Lampard defended the need to sign new players after 18 months of little transfer business.
“I think we addressed that. [the need to strengthen] This summer but I’d be quite naive to think that doesn’t change the outlook in terms of expectations,” he added.
“That has to change, we have to move up and close the gap to Liverpool and Manchester City. We also look around and see Arsenal improve and Tottenham with the front three, if Gareth Bale. Come on, it will be great. Dangerous
“So there are a lot of teams that are trying to do the same thing as us. I don’t want to get caught up in expectations, my biggest expectations are what I can work on with this squad, myself. , which I now have a lot of confidence in.”
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