Kai Havertz: Chelsea’s record signing sends message to fans after long-awaited arrival

Midfielder joined the Blues for a fee of £89million

Chelsea's newest addition Kai Havertz, who signed from Bayer Leverkusen (Chelsea FC via YouTube)

Chelsea finally announced the signing of Kai Havertz from Bayer Leverkusen on Friday night, bringing to a close a pursuit that fans of the Premier League club had followed with interest for most of the transfer window so far.

The 21-year-old midfielder joined on a five-year deal worth £89million, making him the most expensive signing in the Blues’ history.

His arrival follows that of fellow Germany international Timo Werner, as well as Hakim Ziyech, Ben Chilwell, Thiago Silva and Malang Sarr.

And in Havertz’s first interview with Chelsea’s official YouTube channel, he said the excitement of the club’s fans over his potential move to Stamford Bridge this summer hadn’t gone unnoticed.

“First of all: Thank you very much," Havertz said. “I’m glad to be here. I read very many messages from [the fans] and they write me very often on my social media accounts, so I saw it and can’t wait to play in front of the fans. I’ll try to do my best to make them proud.

“I’m very happy and proud to be here. It’s for me a dream come true to play in a big club like Chelsea. I can’t wait to meet all the players and the trainers.

“For me, Chelsea is always a big club. I remember all the big players who played here. Chelsea had and have very big players and I’m very excited to play here. For me it’s a very big step and I’ll try my best in the coming few weeks, months and years to help the team.”

Havertz also revealed how important of a role manager Frank Lampard played in ensuring the midfielder joined Chelsea despite keen interest from the likes of Bayern Munich and Manchester United.

“Of course he had a big impact on my decision, because I loved him as a player and watched him very often,” the 21-year-old said of the Blues coach, who represented Chelsea between 2001 and 2014. 

“I think I can learn from him as a manager as well. I think he’s a very humble person, a very great guy, and I can’t wait to play with him and learn from him.

“I like very much that he was very offensive like me, he loved to score goals and I love to score goals as well. I think he will help me a lot in my position and also maybe on the things that I can improve. I can’t wait to work with him.”

Havertz was also enthusiastic about the “project” that Chelsea are working on as they attempt to rebuild towards their title-winning ways.

“I think it’s very exciting, because Chelsea have very young players,” he said. "I know some of the players like Timo [Werner] and Toni [ Rudiger] – I played with them in the national team and they’re good friends of mine, so I think this is very good for me. 

“And also that they have very young players, English players, I think that’s very nice. A big project. Hopefully we can have many successes and [achieve] as much as possible. 

“I try to do my best and of course it’s a very big step for me – it’s a new country, a new culture. It’s difficult maybe in the first two or three weeks, but then I just want to play football and have fun with the boys, and of course I want to have big success.

“I think we want to win titles here and Chelsea always want to win titles.”