Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has named Kai Havertz as a player with endless potential after getting a close look at him since becoming the new manager at Stamford Bridge.
The German tactician replaced Frank Lampard as Blues boss this week, and he’ll be tasked with improving this struggling squad that was put together after a big summer of spending.
Lampard brought in the likes of Havertz, and other big names like Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech and Ben Chilwell, but could not achieve good results despite the investment.
MORE: Erling Haaland to Chelsea transfer update
Tuchel clearly rates Havertz in particular, but has issued a challenge to the youngster, who will clearly have to step up after joining from Bayer Leverkusen.
The 21-year-old won’t have faced pressure like this before in his career, and Tuchel believes this level of challenge could be good to get the best out of him.
“He seems to be like the guy that needs to be pushed, we will not stop it,” Tuchel said of Havertz, as quoted by the Metro.
“For him, this league is perfect because he cannot rest. He has so much potential that he has to be challenged physically also, it is not enough that he can rely on his endless talent.”
He added: “His potential is endless, almost endless. It is a challenge for him, and I think he made a very brave choice, you have to understand.
“I am a huge fan of Bayer Leverkusen in terms of how they have developed as a club over years and years and what players they developed and what quality of football they play.
“But, you come from Leverkusen to Chelsea, the culture can not be any more different. A club where it is okay to maybe be second or third best, to reach the top four and repeat for this on a very high level.
“Then you go to a club where they talk about trophies and winning titles, it is so open, there is a certain atmosphere like at Bayern Munich they do this every year, they demand titles, titles and more titles and it does something to a club in the atmosphere.
“So that means that Kai has stopped not just to a different country, not only to a different club, not only different teammates, itself is already complicated, he even changes his culture and club environment in a dramatic way.
“And I love it because he is so far out of his comfort zone.”
Chelsea fans can hopefully take some encouragement from Tuchel’s words, with the former Paris Saint-Germain boss perhaps looking a better fit to get the best out of Havertz than Lampard was.
Good motivation