Kai
Havertz says he moved to Chelsea because of the lure of playing under Frank
Lampard, and admitted his manager is already shaping him into a better
player.
Lampard backed the 21-year-old to realise his "top-class" potential at the
club after he recovered from his coronavirus illness to start in the side's
last two games against FC Krasnodar and Leeds United.
In an interview with Sky in Germany, Havertz returned the praise and
underlined the influence of the former England international in his progress
as a midfielder.
"He is very important to me," he said. "We all know him as a player, I would
say here in England and internationally in world football he is one of the
greatest legends.
"Of course, having someone like that as a coach cannot be taken for granted.
I appreciate that very much. As a coach he is very helpful for me, he can
teach me a lot. That's also because I'm playing a bit in his position.
"Frank also was very dangerous in front of goal. That's why it fits very
well and I'm very grateful that he makes me better day by day.
"It was clear to me in advance that the manager would be very important to
me. Of course the club is the most important thing, but there needs to be a
good manager too.
"That worked very well for me with Frank from the start. The talks were very
good and it didn't take me long to sign for Chelsea because of him."
Chelsea took last summer's transfer window by storm, signing Havertz, Timo
Werner, Hakim Ziyech, Ben Chilwell, Edouard Mendy and Thiago Silva for an
overall sum in the region of £250m.
But despite the array of stars who arrived at Stamford Bridge in the summer,
Havertz revealed it was a longer-serving team-mate who made a strong
impression in his first few months at the club.
"The one who really impressed me is Olivier Giroud," he said. "I wouldn't
have expected that before. He's an amazing player.
"Playing with him as a striker is just fun. It's not for nothing that he
holds records in the French national team. He has a lot of games and a lot
of goals under his belt.
"He's also a great guy as a person. Basically it's great fun in the group
because the quality is very high everywhere."
Havertz also says he has the Premier League trophies in his sights but
admits the strong start to the season should not let the players get carried
away.
"When you play at Chelsea and you notice the size of the club when you walk
through the rooms - what pictures are hanging here, what players were here -
then the goal is clearly to win titles as soon as possible," he said.
"That's why we play in this club. Our goal is of course the Premier League
title because we have the quality for it. But leaning too far out of the
window after 12 games doesn't make sense."
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