23-year-old star becomes second Chelsea player to withdraw from national duty this month

Chelsea star Kai Havertz leaves Germany NT after illness

Due to sickness, Germany withdrew Chelsea forward Kai Havertz from the team. Havertz played in Germany’s 2-0 victory over Peru, but he will not be available for Tuesday’s Euro 2024 qualifier match against Belgium.

Reece James has also been excluded from the England team due to a minor hamstring injury (h/t Metro), and Havertz is now the second Chelsea player to be withdrawn from international duty in March.

James has experienced an injury issue four times this season, limiting the right-back to playing in only 12 Premier League games. Havertz’s illness is albeit not severe, and it shouldn’t prevent the 23-year-old from playing against Aston Villa on April 1 for Chelsea.

Havertz, who has been moved to the No. 9 position for the Blues, has had trouble finding the back of the net; the 23-year-old has seven goals in 28 Premier League appearances for Chelsea.

But now it appears that the German international has found his form, as he has scored in three straight games for the Blues.

Chelsea will be relying on Havertz to continue at the top of his game, as April will be a hectic month for them. On April 1, Chelsea will host Aston Villa before taking on Liverpool three days later.

In the Champions League’s last eight, they will meet Real Madrid in mid-April; the first leg will be on April 12 and the second leg six days later. Havertz, as our fans will recall, has been influential for us in the Champions League even if he hasn’t been overly brilliant domestically.

Hopefully, the 23-year-old player, who is starting to find his clinical instincts in front of the net, doesn’t have a major illness. Graham Potter is playing the German international out of position since we currently lack a natural No. 9.

While we have attacking players, it will be a problem if he doesn’t recover in a timely manner. Not only will that break his momentum with the team, but it will also leave us very short up front. Raheem Sterling could then be an option, or Potter can choose to unfreeze Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang to give him some minutes.

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Given that James also experienced a slight hamstring glitch, Potter will now be dealing with two issues at once. Hopefully, neither of them is significant.