Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has praised Kai Havertz after he started in the 1-1 draw against Russian club Krasnodar on Tuesday night.
Blues manager Lampard made 10 changes to his side for the Champions League group stage fixture, with Havertz the sole survivor from the team that beat Leeds United in the Premier League at the weekend.
Chelsea already knew they were a top seed for the last-16 of the Champions League after topping their group and that gave the opportunity for some fringe players to impress against Krasnodar.
Jorginho’s first-half equalising penalty earned a draw at Stamford Bridge, with young duo Billy Gilmour and Tino Anjorin catching the eye with their performances.
Lampard discussed the performance of Havertz after his European performance and was highly complimentary.
“Everyone was pretty good. Kai Havertz did some really nice things – I asked him to play on the wing today, even though we’ve seen him more centrally recently but he can do different roles for us, which will be important” Lampard said, as quoted by the club’s official website.
Havertz got another 74 minutes under his belt in a Chelsea shirt and showed some flashes of brilliance in a fixture that was lacking a creative spark.
The left-footer produced some great moments around the box without the end product and operated in an advanced attacking position, but it looks like longer term the versatile star may be used in the midfield in a box-to-box role.
Aged 21, the Germany international has so much potential and fans need to be patient by trusting that his talent will shine through.
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