Graham Potter faces a struggle that both Frank Lampard and Thomas Tuchel ultimately failed at as well. There's a lot of previous transfer mistakes to make up for or overturn, but chief among them will be finding a way to get the best out of Kai Havertz.
Two years on from joining Chelsea and it's still not clear what his best position is, if he needs a partner, if he's capable of being a goalscorer in England or what makes him tick.
Havertz has largely been used as a striker in some sense. Often a false nine but sometimes with a partner and on occasions in a fluid front three.
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14 matches into the season and he has two goals to show for it with no assists. The German has long been a slow starter, often picking up form for Bayer Leverkusen in the second half of the campaign. He has done that at Chelsea too, so far being at his best after Christmas, but that doesn't cut the requirements of Blues fans and soon even the accolade of scoring a Champions League winning goal won't be enough to stop pressure mounting on him.
In a summer where none of Thomas Tuchel's attackers were safe from criticism and two forced moves away from the club, Havertz got away with a polite nudge and people saying 'come on.' The 23-year-old is too much of a talent, and a £72m investment, to fail at Stamford Bridge.
With his game looking more suited to the opennes of Bundesliga football, early rumblings of a potential move away have appeared but nothing is concrete. Bayern Munich lost Robert Lewandowski over the summer and Thomas Muller can't play forever, but Havertz would need to prove that he is able to fill the needs of Julien Nagelsmann.
As a young player still it is easy to see why Todd Boehly would be hesitant to make any big decisions on Havertz too soon, and the new co-owners are aware of how much impact the winter World Cup could have on his form for the season. And transfer guru Fabrizio Romano reports that nothing is imminent anyway. Speaking to CaughtOffside, he said, "At the moment I see many rumours but there’s still nothing concrete for Havertz, and nothing advanced for January.
"Also, no negotiations for Havertz took place in the summer. We will see in 2023, it will also depend on the new directors. I think he deserves more patience and time, maybe to play in different position.”
Havertz is a key player for his country and has a decent 10 goals in 30 games, but for Chelsea his return of 25 in 106 is left even more frustrating when his form drops and confidence goes, taking out all elements of link-up play. That has created pressure of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to score rather than a split of goals so far. If nothing changes, Potter might end up having to be the man to split ties.
Havertz was an unused substitute against Manchester United at the weekend with 19-year-old Carney Chukwuemeka favoured, perhaps demonstrating where the German currently stands as pressure ramps up for the final month before the World Cup.
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