Cesc Fabregas has high hopes for German duo Kai Havertz and Timo Werner at Chelsea next season.
The pair arrived from the Bundesliga last summer from Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig respectively for big-money. Both took their time to find their feet in England and ended up with a Champions League winners medal at the end of the first campaign, a game where Havertz scored the decisive, and only goal of the final in Porto on May 29.
For Havertz, who also contracted coronavirus back in November 2020, contributed nine goals and nine assists in 45 appearances in his debut season. While Werner bagged 12 and 15 assists in 52 appearances in all competitions.
They have now joined up with Germany for the European Championships this summer but ahead of the 2021/22 season, former Chelsea midfielder Fabregas is backing them to light it up for the Blues next year.
What Cesc Fabregas said
In his column for the Telegraph, the Spaniard wrote: "I watch every single Chelsea game, so I’ve followed the first seasons of the club’s two big German signings, Kai Havertz and Timo Werner, very closely and I am convinced next season we will start to really see the best of them.
"As a midfielder who likes to make assists, I have played behind strikers before who are going through a bad time or suffering with their confidence. It’s a bit of both that it can be frustrating that they miss chances, but I would also be thinking at some time Werner will score.
"The most important thing is that he keeps making the runs, that his timing is good, that he’s not offside and with his speed he will always get chances. Players like Werner are so valuable nowadays because players want the ball at their feet a lot and, as a midfielder, you would like this type of player to run on to your passes.
"I’d definitely still keep trying to find him in games because when your own team-mates start doubting you, this is the worst feeling you can have because you feel it. What I like is to talk to people always in a positive way, even if in training they miss then you say ‘well done, the next one will go in’. Even if it has to be 100 times. Football is so much about confidence and what’s in your head and especially strikers who depend so much on scoring or not scoring. If they miss, it’s when you need to support them the most.
"I was talking to my Monaco team-mate Kevin Volland, who was a team-mate of Havertz at Bayer Leverkusen, and he told me that Havertz would usually struggle a little bit at the start of seasons to get going, but that once he gets a clear ride and is mentally good then he’s a fantastic player.
"Havertz didn’t start very, very well at Chelsea and sometimes he looked off the pace. But once Thomas Tuchel put him in a false nine position, it was working better. He didn’t have to touch a lot of the ball, but he helped the team tick. He was not losing the ball, he made everyone else secure, he was creating stuff. And I think at the end of the season, he was very, very good.
"I saw that both Werner and Havertz scored for Germany in their last warm-up game, so, hopefully, they can have a good tournament and, definitely, I think we will see different players for Chelsea next season."
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