Chelsea, seven others linked as Kai Havertz €100m+ sweepstakes for 2020 begin

Bayer Leverkusen superstar “Alleskönner” Kai Havertz is not expected to stay at the club beyond this season.

The 20-year-old already extremely well-rounded midfielder, with already over 100 professional appearances to his name, was runner-up for the German Footballer of the Year award last season and has started the new season with a goal in each of his first two games. Big and tall, quick and strong, with vision, technique, and mentality to match, he’d be a top recruit for any top team in any top European league.

And so, the sweepstakes for his signature next summer has already begun.

The report from Sport 1 lists no fewer than eight (8!) teams as “interested parties”: the two Spanish giants, Barcelona and Real Madrid; five of the Premier League’s top six, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United, and Arsenal; and of course Bayern Munich, who already tried to sign him this summer.

Bayern will be tough to beat for any team, as is usually the case for any Bundesliga standout, but in a bidding war, purse strings could be loosened much more elsewhere. Leverkusen have seen Joao Félix’s €125m move to Atlético Madrid this summer and will be expecting a similar princely nine-figure sum.

As much as Chelsea have bet on our Academy this season, there is money sitting idle from the sales of Eden Hazard, Álvaro Morata, and many others. The ideal transfer plan should be to spend huge on one or two superstars, and promote from within for the rest. That superstar may or may not be Havertz of course, but this is unlikely to be the last time we’re linked to him.