The Blues’ most expensive summer signing has scored just one goal in the Premier League all season.
Frank Leboeuf reckons Kai Havertz was ‘almost invisible’ in Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat to Wolves on Tuesday and remarked on how the German has apparently made no attempt to reverse his fortunes.
Havertz, who arrived from Bayer Leverkusen in September for a hefty €80m fee, has struggled to make an impact. He’s only supplied one goal and assist in the Premier League across 11 appearances, despite starting 10 times.
Blues boss Frank Lampard has defended the 21-year-old and asked for patience as the young midfielder gets to grips with life in the English top-flight.
But amid another woeful display at Molineux on Tuesday from Havertz, Leboeuf couldn’t help but remark on how the player struggles while his fellow summer recruits have all settled into the fold.
“Almost invisible,” the former Chelsea defender told ESPN on Havertz’s performance at Wolves.
“I touched on the point some weeks ago. We heard Frank Lampard say, ‘no, we need to give him time’.
“But I don’t know, it’s something that I don’t like, the way sometimes it feels like he’s not there, that he’s not trying to compensate for a lack of confidence with a desire or just being a warrior, showing us that, ‘okay, I’m not good at the moment, but I’m going to fight for the club and not be invisible.’
“We share texts during the game and we were wondering if he was on the field. You can be bad – [Timo] Werner didn’t have a good game – but we saw him trying to get something going.
“We don’t see Havertz getting anything. I’m very concerned about that guy.
“I don’t forget the price they paid, and I know he’s only 21, but we see players who arrived last summer who didn’t need much time to adapt and being very influential.
“I don’t understand what Havertz is doing right now, but I want answers.”
This isn’t the first time Leboeuf has questioned Havertz either.
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