Gabby Agbonlahor accuses Kai Havertz for seeing off two managers and not doing enough at Chelsea
Speaking on Talksport Radio (h/t Daily Mail), football pundit Gabby Agbonlahor has accused Chelsea forward Kai Havertz for seeing off two managers and not doing enough to retain his place under the third.
Since his arrival at Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2020, Havertz has seen Frank Lampard and Thomas Tuchel leave the club. Both managers got the sack after an underwhelming set of results. The latter getting sacked in September 2022 was more of a shock given his success, but he did not start this season well.
We always have this debate of whether managers become an easy target when a football team starts to lose games. Should players take more responsibility for the team’s bad run of form? The answer is yes, but it is not without caveats.
Here’s what Agbonlahor said about Havertz and him not doing much (h/t Daily Mail):
“Look at [Kai] Havertz, he saw two managers off, he is not doing anything. He is not a number nine or ten, he is not holding the ball up, or even scoring goals.”
It is not as if Havertz not performing now is down to Graham Potter. He has struggled for consistency throughout his time at Chelsea. While his name will be etched in the club’s history books for scoring the winner in the 2021 Champions League winner, he has not become a player who would regularly contribute with goals and assists.
In his time at Stamford Bridge, the German international has scored only 29 goals and assisted just 15 in 124 appearances in all competitions. To add context to those stats, he has played 112 of those games either as a striker or as a number 10.
Chelsea spent big money (£75.8m) to sign the 23-year-old. Seeing the meagre returns in his first two-and-a-half seasons at the club, we can consider that as money not well spent.
It won’t be a surprise if the Blues sell him in the summer and buy a striker. If that is the case, the player can have no complaints because he was given enough opportunities to showcase his talents.
More Chelsea News:
- Chelsea could hire Brentford boss Thomas Frank if Graham Potter is sacked
- Inter Milan chief confirms Romelu Lukaku will return to Chelsea in the summer
- Shakhtar sporting director confident that Mykhaylo Mudryk will be a success at Chelsea
He is still 23 years old and has a lot of time ahead of him to hone his skills and find his best position on the field. It has come to a point, however, where fans wouldn’t mind if he is sold and the money is invested elsewhere – especially on a proven centre-forward.
He just hasn’t given us enough to keep backing him.