Kai Havertz registered an assist on Germany’s only goal in their 1-0 win over Romania in yesterday’s 2022 World Cup qualifier. It complemented the goal he scored versus Iceland three days ago in Deutchsland’s blowout victory over the small island nation.
For Havertz, the most expensive German player ever at 71 million GBP, it’s been a mighty fine international period, which is in stark contrast to the very disappointing season he’s had at Chelsea. While thriving for country, the 21-year-old opened up on his rough club campaign.
“It’s been a tough season,” the former Bayer Leverkusen man said. “I know that things haven’t been going smoothly, but I think that’s normal when you first go abroad. It takes half a year or longer to adjust.”
Arriving at Chelsea with a big price tag and high hopes, he’s only scored one goal and registered just two assists in league play (14 substitute appearances, seven starts) this season. He scored 19 goals last year, his final campaign in the Bundesliga and had 20 scoring strikes in the season before that. Testing positive for covid-19 in November, the virus forced him to miss some games, and he really didn’t look himself, for a long time, afterward.
However, he’s feeling good right now about how things are going lately, despite the fact that he’s been mostly just a bench player under new manager Thomas Tuchel.
He expressed his optimism about the near term future.
“I think that things are going well right now so I don’t want to overthink those negative impressions from the past,” Kai Havertz continued.
“I am positive and hope that the next weeks will be every bit as good.”
Chelsea are off until April 4, when they’ll resume their Premier League campaign at home against West Bromwich Albion. They are currently back in the top four in the table, and they have advanced to the quarterfinals of the Champions League.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.