Chelsea: How to unearth the best version of Kai Havertz

It is no secret that Chelsea’s £72m signing, 21-year-old Kai Havertz has struggled in his first year in London. Whether it be COVID or changing positions, he is yet to flourish on the pitch.

Like any player, adapting to new surroundings can be difficult, along with transitioning through two different managers.

But, it is positionally where Havertz has struggled until Tuchel began to play him in a position he owned back at Bayer Leverkusen.

The false nine.

Kai Havertz had his best time playing as a false-nine at Leverkusen

Throughout his Leverkusen career, Havertz was pushed further and further up the pitch as his attacking talents came to fruition.

But where he grew into the player that Chelsea paid all that money for was right at the top, whilst being allowed to drop back and create.

In 2019/20, when Havertz played up top predominantly, he scored 17 goals, eight assists with 2.2 key passes per 90 at 85.4% passing accuracy.

When played in this position by Chelsea, he scored a hattrick in the FA Cup and scored in two Premier League games.

Havertz can bring a lot to the table, but if you want the most out of his goal-scoring and creating abilities, that false nine allows him to flourish.

Havertz also has a lot of versatility too: In 2018/19, he played more at attacking midfield and still scored 17 goals, but amassed only 5 assists and averaged just one key pass per 90.

With the young German very clearly having talents at both positions, the false nine combines both and is where he has shown his best performances in Germany and in his short time at Chelsea.

Chelsea has a lot of talent in the offense, with Christian Pulisic, Mason Mount, Hakim Ziyech, Tammy Abraham and the yet-to-fire Timo Werner, all having the ability to play well in the attack.

So, fitting Havertz in is a difficult task and to let him play where he is best at may be an even more difficult tactical dilemma to sort out. Tuchel has figured out a lot of things at Chelsea but this is one that he would have to think about.

The manager may have his work cut out for him to find order with all the talent available in Chelsea’s attack. But to get the best out of Kai Havertz, it seems the false nine is the position for him.