Frank Lampard and Thomas Tuchel had same view on Kai Havertz before Arsenal transfer

Kai Havertz might divide opinion among Premier League fans, but he’s a big favourite with former Chelsea managers. Despite a rocky start at Arsenal following his £65million transfer from Chelsea in 2023, Havertz appears to have now found his stride, netting 19 goals in 60 appearances for the Gunners.

After initially struggling in a No.8 role in Mikel Arteta’s side, Havertz, 25, has since thrived in the false nine position, and Arsenal are reaping the rewards. This season, Havertz has already scored five times in nine matches, and he finished the 2023/24 campaign with an impressive 13 Premier League goals, surpassing all of his single-season tallies at Chelsea.

The Blues struggled to work out how best to deplot the German, testing him in various positions including No.8, No.10, No.9, and even on the wing, though it wasn’t for the want of trying. Frank Lampard, who twice managed Havertz at Chelsea, lauded the forward ahead of Arsenal’s Champions League clash with PSG on Tuesday night, and claimed it was always crystal clear how talented he was.

“I brought him to Chelsea as a young player. When he came to Chelsea it wasn’t quite clear [where to play him],” he said on Amazon Prime. “He was a very talented player… I think we never got to the end of the story at Chelsea [in figuring out] what was his best position.

“The faith that Mikel Arteta has shown in him by bringing him to the club, and the faith that he’s stuck with him, because I’ve got some Arsenal friends and when he first arrived there were question marks. They asked me, ‘what is he like? ‘ and I said, ‘no no, trust me, he’s a talented boy, he just needs to work the Premier League out a little bit more and grow into it’.”

Thomas Tuchel, who tried to sign Havertz for Bayern Munich, was similarly a big fan of the player when he arrived at Chelsea, and consistently lauded his skills. “The guy is so full of talent he will not have a relaxed second with me,” Tuchel said back in September 2021.

“Because if you have this amount of talent you have to push yourself to the absolute maximum and the absolute maximum for this guy, nobody knows. He has the body, he has the talent, he has the head, he has belief to play at the very top, he has everything.”

In March 2022, Tuchel fawned over how pivotal Havertz had become to Chelsea’s tactical execution. “What he gives us is huge volume. He covers a lot of metres, he covers a lot of metres in high intensity, so he finds the intensity no matter what the system the opponent defends against us, he finds intensive runs, he finds distances. This is what makes him and he uses his body more and more.”

Lampard was similarly complimentary on Tuesday, as he watched Havertz head home Arsenal’s opener in their 2-0 win over PSG, noting: “He’s added a consistency of goals to his game and there’s a strength about his game. Arsenal now are this physical, powerful team, and I always felt when I brought him to Chelsea that he’d be this physical, powerful player at the top of the pitch.

“But he’s also got this lovely touch and elegant movement and very fluid movement and first touch to bring people in. So there are a lot of facets to his game, and I think he’s even got more improvement to do.”

Havertz, who started his career impressively at Bayer Leverkusen with 46 goals in 150 appearances, joined Chelsea for £72million in 2020. Though his tenure had ups and downs, Havertz immortalised himself among the Blues’ supporters by securing the Champions League trophy with his decisive goal in the 2021 final against Manchester City. He left for Arsenal last year with 32 goals in 139 Chelsea games.