Havertz will be ‘top player’ for Chelsea – Lampard

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Chelsea boss Frank Lampard says Kai Havertz’s form was “brilliant” before he contracted Covid-19 and says that the fit-again German will become a “top player” in world football.




The club’s record signing – a £71m arrival from Bayer Leverkusen – was looking increasingly settled and confident before testing positive for coronavirus in early November.

He made his first start on his return to action in the 4-0 Champions League win over Sevilla and was in the starting line-up again as Chelsea fought back from a goal down to beat Leeds United 3-1 at home on Saturday night.

Lampard said the German had “really strong symptoms” of Covid and was “ill and struggling for quite a while” with the virus.

“That’s why it took two or so weeks before he started a game,” Lampard added.

Havertz scored a hat-trick in the 6-0 League Cup win over Barnsley in September and grabbed his first league goal in the 3-3 Premier League draw with Southampton on 17 October.

The 21-year-old has four goals in a total of 14 club appearances this season and Lampard said that just before Havertz’s positive test his quality was really beginning to show.

“He was playing some really good stuff in the number eight role, the advanced midfield role,” Chelsea’s record goalscorer said.

“I was delighted for him because you could see he was enjoying it and Covid cut that short. Long term I have absolutely no worries about Kai, in fact the opposite.

“He is going to be a huge player for this football club. He has all the attributes, he has all the personality and all the attitude and he is going to be an absolutely top-class player for me, in the Premier League and in the world.

“That’s how highly I rate him. There are quick reactions sometimes to how people analyse new signings straight away with price tags etc. We have to understand that some of the best players to have graced the Premier League found it hard for quite a long time to get used to it, but I think he has done very well.

“Covid has made it very difficult but he is going to be a top player for us. He is a top player.”