Chelsea’s summer signings have, to a man, all settled in quite nicely and quite quickly, except maybe in Kai Havertz’s case a bit, which hasn’t necessarily been as smooth as for the others.
The 21-year-old’s form hasn’t been very consistent, though that has undoubtedly not been helped by his (relatively) late arrival in the summer, the team’s lack of a proper preseason, and of course his bout with COVID-19, which in his case actually produced some strong (flu-like) symptoms that not only took him out of action for two weeks, but as Lampard revealed recently, had him “struggling” for a few days as well. (It’s important to remember that influenza can be a very serious ailment as well, unlike the common cold for which it is often confused — and the novel coronavirus can be even worse than influenza.)
Patience is often in short supply in the modern world, but Lampard has no doubts about Kai’s ability to become one of the best in the world (commensurate with they hype and the transfer fee), and those sorts of feeling are reciprocated as well.
In his post-match interview with BT last night, Kai gave plenty of praise to his manager.
“I am feeling very good. The start (of the season) was not my best but I am very thankful to be here and I give every day my best to try to help the team. And of course, I know that Frank Lampard is a big manager for me. I can learn from him. He is helping me day-by-day and I am very thankful for that.”
While last night’s result wasn’t exactly fantastic, it was basically a meaningless match as far as our Champions League ambitions may be concerned.
And make no mistake, those ambitions are pretty high around this team, both from the outside and the inside.
“We have a lot of good players in our team but I think we all know that we have to improve a lot because we have new players, we have young players and the connection is getting better off the pitch and on the pitch. I think you see on the pitch today and on the weekend that it is getting better.”
-Kai Havertz; source: BT via Express
If we can keep improving and keep staying (mostly) healthy, the sky is indeed the limit.