Kai Havertz has been speaking out in support of Chelsea teammate Romelu Lukaku.
The Belgian joined Chelsea for big money over the summer and was expected to be the final piece of Thomas Tuchel’s jigsaw.
However, Lukaku has since struggled for form and was dropped for Chelsea’s last clash, with Kai Havertz starting up front instead of him.
Now though, Havertz has spoken out in support of Lukaku and sympathised with his plight as he too moved to Chelsea for big money and struggled for form somewhat in his first campaign.
When asked about the criticism of Lukaku, who cost Chelsea £97.5m, Havertz stated: “I know this feeling. It’s not easy when you come to a club with a £100m package and everyone wants you to perform from the first to the last minute in a game.
“We are all human, everyone makes mistakes, but apart from that we are a little bit too hard on Rom. You cannot forget he scored in the semi-final and the final of the Club World Cup, goals which were huge for us.
“Even though everyone keeps saying ‘he’s not scoring, he’s not scoring’, he has the most goals in our squad. It’s not too bad, but everyone is always putting pressure on the big players, players who cost a lot of money. I know this feeling from last season, from this season as well.
“Everyone wants to give their best and show he is good but it is not easy and not always that you can go into a game and score two or three goals. I think we are being a little bit too hard on him.
“For me, the first season was not my best but at the end I scored a very important goal in a Champions League final. This helped me a lot. I think if I didn’t score this goal everyone would say, ‘he’s so bad’. Two seconds in one year that maybe changed the whole year for me.”
Havertz then told Lukaku that he is not the first, nor will he the last, Chelsea player to struggle for form: “Small things can turn everything around.
“I was not the first in that situation. There were a lot of Chelsea players before in that situation. Rom is not the first and he will also not be the last one. It takes some time.”
‘We are being a little bit too hard on him’: Kai Havertz backs Romelu Lukaku to hit top form at Chelsea @Matt_Law_DT #CFC https://t.co/HPXQHHBTs1
— Telegraph Football (@TeleFootball) February 25, 2022
Chelsea vs Liverpool
Lukaku could well have his season-defining moment for Chelsea this weekend.
The Blues will face Liverpool in the League Cup final on Sunday and are somewhat underdogs given the sensational form of Liverpool recently.
But if Lukaku were to score the winner on Sunday, you would assume all his previous struggles would be forgotten.
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