In the eyes of Chelsea supporters, Kai Havertz will always be held in high esteem purely for his Champions League final winning goal. As Didier Drogba did in Munich over 10 years ago, that single moment will go down in club folklore, replayed amongst fans for generations to come.
For Drogba, it came near the end of an already glittering period in Blue, for Havertz at the beginning. After a challenging first season in England, it provided the greatest jumping-off point and created a deep connection. That connection and adoration for Havertz are unlikely to dwindle, however, it may have allowed for some criticism to disappear during the following season.
The 2021/22 campaign certainly was overall a better year for the German – netting 14 goals in all competitions compared to the nine he got the previous year. His positioning was much more consistent, usually deployed at the centre of Thomas Tuchel's attack or in the front three, compared to under Frank Lampard where he started in a midfield three.
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However, there still was a lingering feeling Havertz could have done more and still is a large step away from becoming the dominant attacker Chelsea thought they were buying in 2020.
Age surely plays its part here, at only 22 Havertz is still developing his own game whilst having to adapt to a new country and league. Given the amount invested in him, this always felt like a long-term deal for a player who would remain a big part of the first team for years to come.
Havertz's Chelsea story is a very difficult one to analyse for its contrasting moments. Already the German has racked up two historic moments in the club's history, a Champions League and Club World Cup winner. To most that should symbolise a brilliant player or one who is adding great value.
The big moments cannot exonerate him from criticism for performances now, which at times, have been pretty underwhelming. The arrival of Romelu Lukaku certainly disrupted Havertz's place in Chelsea's attack though as the season dragged on, it felt like the frustration with Lukaku from supporters gave cover to other players' inefficiencies.
People might easily forget Havertz had a pretty strong run as the nine before Christmas when Lukaku was injured between October and November. In that time Havertz only found the back of the once in the Premier League, added to the goal scored against Liverpool in August it took until early March for him to improve on that tally against Burnley, where he started a highly impressive run of goals.
Scoring five in as many league appearances, Havertz suddenly looked like the focal point Thomas Tuchel had hoped Lukaku to be. But then those goals dried up and he would only net one more from his remaining seven league appearances.
Havertz has continued a trend seen at Bayer Leverkusen of having pretty slow starts to the season before coming good in the crucial run-in. Although this has its clear benefits, as seen in the Champions League, for the player Chelsea needs in attack this is an issue in an already problematic area.
Before Havertz's impressive outing against Lille in February, the game in which Tuchel dropped Lukaku, you would have been hard-pressed to count on one-hand many memorable displays from Havertz for the opening five months of the season. He still has a tendency to drift through games, showing nice little touches and flashes of inspiration but overall lacking end product.
This drift was slightly masked by the big debate over the integration of Lukaku and the issue of a £97m man not working. Havertz benefitted from this, which meant for weeks he could drop pretty timid or downright poor performances and little would be said of it, the focus was on Lukaku.
In the event Lukaku departs this summer, the limelight will be turned onto Havertz in a new way. Should Chelsea not spend again on another striker and instead opt to recruit a wide player, the likelihood of the forward becoming Tuchel's first-choice feels pretty high and there will not be as much patience for a slow start.
As we have previously discussed, Chelsea's attack can be attributed as much to the system as it can to individuals, but Havertz will be relied upon for his finishing, a vital component that might get lost as the centre forward when discussing his pressing attributes. As much as he might suit Tuchel's system more than Lukaku, goals are what he should be judged upon over the course of a season, particularly if the wide players are more relied upon for their creativity.
Technically Havertz is one of Europe's most accomplished talents, when he does go on runs of strong form you remember why there was much hype around his signing. Though with that hype comes expectation, an expectation of a player who will take hold of games and be relied upon to dig his team out of trouble, and on that front, the jury is still out over whether Havertz can become that player on a more regular basis.
