Despite the entry of Real Madrid on the rush to win the signature of Bayer Leverkusen ace Kai Havertz, Chelsea appeared quite confident that the German striker will sign to make Stamford Bridge his new base. The Spanish giants belatedly joined the pack of elite clubs running after the 20-year-old, marked as a priority signing by Blues boss Frank Lampard.
Lampard, however, will need to fend off the threats coming from rivals like fellow Premier League clubs Liverpool and Manchester. He enjoys a big advantage though with a hiring plan fully backed by the Chelsea board.
Still, the push coming from Real is not hard to ignore as the side of Zinedine Zidane is traditionally attractive to rising stars such as Havertz.
But according to The Sun, the Blues "remain in a pole position," with the targeted signing of Havertz. That's because the price tag attached to the youngster is at £70 million, which rival clubs could find unreasonable due to the financial problems that came with the COVID-19 pandemic.
For Lampard, it would seem that money is not an issue as Chelsea skipped on making acquisitions in the last two transfer windows due to prohibition that was lifted just recently.
This advantage was manifested with the imminent signing of Timo Werner from RB Leipzig. The 24-year-old was originally locked in for Liverpool but the side by Jurgen Klopp had to back out of the trade talks for failure to raise the £53 million asking price on Werner.
Klopp had explained he had to drop out because it's hard to justify spending big on one player while the Reds are dealing with money issues. While the Premier League games are set to be played again, estimates from Liverpool indicated loss revenues of around £150 million.
Klopp said matches will be played behind closed doors and that would mean no money flowing and there is no telling when the spectators will be allowed again.
Meanwhile, Leverkusen chief Rudi Voller said Havertz leaving in the summer is far from a done deal. Voller insisted that for Bayer, the German star will remain with the club and he is prepared to do everything to make the attacking midfielder stay.
"We try to give him every possibility that he can call up his qualities. He did an outstanding job in the second half of the season," Metro reported the club executive as saying.
Yet for Havertz, the prospect of playing outside of Bundesliga, earning more money, and reuniting with Werner, his teammate with Germany, at Chelsea could prove too tempting to refuse.
