Mario Melchiot has leaped to the defence of Chelsea star Kai Havertz by insisting he’s a top player despite an indifferent start to life at Stamford Bridge.
Havertz, 21, joined the Blues in the summer window from Bayer Leverkusen.
The attacking midfielder has made a decent return of five goals and six assists in all competitions so far.
But the £140,000-a-week star has shown very little in the Premier League.
The left-footed Germany international has started once in the last six league games, which was in the midweek defeat away to Leicester City and he failed to make an impact.
Ex-Blues defender Melchiot has claimed though that he still believes in Havertz’s ability and focused on where he’s most effective on the pitch.
“People think it’s very easy to come into the Premier League and make things happen. You look at a guy like Kai Havertz, I’ve watched him over and over in Germany. What a player,” Melchoit told talkSPORT (7:13am, 20 January).
“The [problem] is if you don’t play him in the right position. If Kai Havertz starts in the middle of the park, he has to do a lot of backtracking, that’s not his game.
“If you want to play him upfront, he’s not the player that is going to beat a player. Kai Havertz where he was playing [at Leverkusen] was either as a number 10 or like a hanging striker.”
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Havertz could be excused in the opening months for struggling whenever he was deployed on the wing, but more recently he’s had the opportunity in a number 10 creative position.
The German was brilliant in the last few years for Leverkusen and many went into this season regarding him as one of the world’s elite young talents.
But midway through the campaign he’s managed just one league goal and can’t nail down a spot in the XI.
It looks like Blues boss Frank Lampard is still working out the way to get the best out of him and right now the manager just needs results in anyway possible.
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