Frank Lampard Reveals Why He Is So Excited About Kai Havertz

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has insisted that he has no doubts Kai Havertz will blossom into a top player in Stamford Bridge.

The German arrived at Chelsea this summer in a deal worth an initial £61m and was immediately thrust into the starting lineup for Chelsea's season opener against Brighton and Hove Albion. He endured a tough debut and was brought off towards the end of the game after failing to make an impact.

While Havertz's bow was 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 potential.

"I was able to have some conversations with Kai as the buying process happened," Lampard explained.

"I did as much watching of him as a player as I could and by that time Timo Werner had arrived at the club and Timo and Kai are pretty close, so I could ask him quite a lot about Kai. They play in the national team together so we had some very good background on him, and I was very struck by the first conversations I had with Kai, by his humility and how he is as a person.

"[Humility] comes with the idea that they just want to improve and come here and be a success. I know he has great talent and I have seen that in the first week that he has been here.

"It is important to be clear that before the Brighton game he had trained for four or five days and two or three of those were the build up to a game, when you can’t even work that hard. The fitness levels for Kai were very difficult and they are only going to get better and they will get better very quickly. I have certainly seen big parts of his talent and the same as with Timo, I have no doubt the impact he is going to have here as a Chelsea player."

Chelsea have attracted plenty of attention for their summer of heavy spending, but Lampard defended the need to sign new players after 18 months of very little transfer business.

"I think we did address [the need to strengthen] this summer but I would be pretty naïve to think that does not change any outlook in terms of expectation," he added.

"It has to change it, we have to want to improve and close the gap upwards on Liverpool and Manchester City. We also look around us and see Arsenal improving and Tottenham with a front three, if Gareth Bale comes along, that will be very dangerous.

"So there are lots of teams that are trying to do the same as us. I don’t want to get too caught up in the expectations, my biggest expectations are what I put on myself from what I can work on with this squad, which I am very confident in now."


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Source : 90min