The big-money summer signing delivered another underwhelming display in Chelsea’s defeat to Everton over the weekend.
Frank Lampard believes Kai Havertz may require an entire season to adapt to Premier League football, but maintains the German will come good and has called for patience.
The 21-year-old has struggled to live up to his €80m price tag following his summer arrival from Bayer Leverkusen.
In his 16 appearances across all competitions so far, Havertz has only scored on two occasions. The most memorable by far was his hat-trick in the 6-0 Carabao Cup win over Barnsley in September. Since then, however, he has bagged just one more goal along with four assists.
Havertz has also played in several different roles this season in central midfield, on the flanks, and as a center-forward.
The former Leverkusen star played out wide in Chelsea’s 1-0 defeat to Everton last Saturday. But he again struggled, proving sloppy in possession and unable to exert any influence before Lampard replaced him with Tammy Abraham in the second half.
“In the modern-day, there’s going to be criticism for every player of every club that loses a game, or if something doesn’t go right,” said Blues boss Lampard on the club’s website.
“We certainly should be patient with Kai Havertz from a Chelsea end because he’s a top-quality talent coming into this league.
“He’s played off the right-wing countless times before he signed for Chelsea, he can play in any position across the front and in midfield also so that’s not an issue.
“We do have to be patient, not just with Kai but with any young player, and particularly a young player adjusting to the speed of the Premier League.
“I’ve got no problem with Kai. If people want to jump straight in to criticize, I’d say just wait and give a young player time, whether it’s a week or a month or six months or a year, and come back to me, because I know the player that Kai Havertz is going to be.”
Havertz also recently suffered from COVID-19 and was left unable to train for a fortnight because of the disease.
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