Kai Havertz joined Chelsea in the summer but has scored just one Premier League goal so far this season; Thomas Tuchel has offered his support to his fellow German and believes much more is to come from Havertz; Chelsea host Newcastle on Monday night, live on Sky Sports
Friday 12 February 2021 12:56, UK
Thomas Tuchel insisted he is "convinced" that out-of-form forward Kai Havertz can still have a big impact at Chelsea.
Havertz has struggled to replicate anything like the form that persuaded Chelsea to sign him from Bayer Leverkusen last summer, with the 21-year-old having scored just one Premier League goal all season to date.
Injury has hampered his debut campaign in England - Havertz is set to miss Chelsea's clash with Newcastle on Monday, live on Sky Sports - but the numbers still do not make for positive reading. Tuchel, however, is calling for patience.
"I am pretty sure we will see (Havertz's best), it takes time," Tuchel said. "There is no short answer (to his issues), if there was a short answer I would clearly go and talk to him in that way to bring him to his full potential.
"What we clearly know and what we can rely on is that all this potential is in him and all this logic is in him. For every transfer and every change of club for a player it is different and sometimes it needs a little bit more time to adapt. Sometimes it is quick, sometimes it is between one match and another, sometimes it is a process.
"All we can do is support him and give him what he needs and figure this out right now. He had a pretty good start with us, had good matches. I have a feeling that we have a guy who is totally clear, totally self-aware, very humble and incredibly talented, so there are no doubts he will show his best the sooner the better.
"Unfortunately, he misses some training sessions and games for us. Hopefully he can come back in the next days because I am absolutely convinced he will have a big impact in this club."
Otherwise, it has gone pretty much to plan for Tuchel since he succeeded Frank Lampard at Chelsea, with the Blues having won four and drawn one of the new coach's first five games in charge.
Tuchel has had very little time on the training pitch with his team given how unrelenting the fixture schedule is at the moment, but the 47-year-old admitted playing so many games in quick succession can have its advantages.
"Every coach in the world wants to have maybe four weeks with a new team to know their habits and characteristics but maybe the good thing was that we didn't think about it because we didn't have time to," Tuchel added.
"The first decision we had to make was to do training one day before Wolves and yes we did. It is beneficial we have had a lot of games because you get to know your players better."
Tuchel is also liking what he is seeing from his academy players at the club, with Billy Gilmour given his chance against Barnsley and impressing.
"The door is always open in my office for the coaches, officials from the academy," Tuchel added. "I love to watch their training, in-house games on the other pitches, which is unfortunately not allowed at the moment because we are in the bubble so it is a bit more difficult than usual.
"My belief is that is the backbone of any club, the more guys you have arrive in the first team, the better it is for the club."
