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The longest transfer saga of this summer, at least for Chelsea, seems to be near its conclusion.
Bayer Leverkusen head coach Peter Bosz has admitted that he does not "expect" Chelsea target Kai Havertz to train with the club from here on out.
Bayer Leverkusen head coach Peter Bosz: “I no longer expect Kai Havertz or Kevin Volland to train with us again.”
— Ronan Murphy (@swearimnotpaul) August 31, 2020
Havertz is set to join Chelsea and Volland is due to move to Monaco. #B04 #CFC #ASMonaco
Peter Bosz on Chelsea spending big to sign Kai Havertz: "There are clubs and people, like Roman Abramovich in this case probably, who are able to and want to pay it. They will have calculated it well and Kai is not the only player joining Chelsea this summer." #B04 #CFC
— Ronan Murphy (@swearimnotpaul) August 31, 2020
Kai Havertz has been linked with Chelsea, for what it seems to be, forever, with the two sides, led Chelsea's Marina Granovskaia and Leverkusen's Rudi Völler enjoying an extremely lengthy and drawn out game of brinkmanship.
However, this comment by Bosz is the clearest indication yet that the game is over. While Völler has consistently claimed that the two clubs are nowhere near an agreement, these words from Bosz make that seem exactly what we expected it to be, a negotiation tactic.
...because Kai Havertz is a Chelsea player by one week! Just a matter of time to prepare the announcement, have medicals and complete the contracts for a €100m deal. Never been in doubt. [And Kevin Volland is joining Monaco]. Here we go confirmed, so #CFC #Chelsea #transfers https://t.co/Qglfeocab9
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 31, 2020
As a reminder from “Transfer Oracle” Fabrizio Romano, Chelsea will pay €80m up front to Leverkusen for Havertz, with €20m as add-ons. The delay in announcement seems to be due to little details such as the type of add-ons rather than anything significant.
We wouldn’t advise you to order your “Havertz” shirt just yet — you never truly know until things are official. But this transfer definitely looks to be a case of “when” rather than “if” at this point.
Here we go!