Who Is Manchester United And Bayern Munich Target Kai Havertz?

Kai Havertz turns 21 on Thursday. The youngster, the focal point of coach Peter Bosz’s team, has been thriving at Leverkussen. His stats suggest as much. With nine goals and four assists, Havertz is the Bundesliga’s most productive player in 2020 only behind Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho. He has found the net five times since the coronavirus shutdown, taking his tally to 15 across all competitions.

He is the kind of player who doesn’t allow you to blink. You often require a replay to understand how he interprets the game, exploits space, roams across the frontline and finishes with the cool of a seasoned striker. Ungainly like Thomas Muller, the 21-year old Bayer Leverkusen player is an upgrade from the ‘Raumdeuter.’ Havertz is an ‘Alleskönner’ or, loosely translated, a jack-of-all-trades, a somewhat crass and insufficient generalization for a player of his refinement.

Last Friday, Havertz became the first player in Bundesliga history to score 35 goals before turning 21 to help his club past hosts Freiburg. Again, you wondered how he had done it? How had he worked such a lovely goal in a tedious match? 

Dropping deeper from his central position, he flicked the ball to Leon Bailey, who drew his man and backheeled into space. Inside the left-channel, the ball was out of Havertz’s reach; the angle seemed to tight as well. With Freiburg’s keeper barreling at him, Havertz couldn’t possibly score. Then, with the lightest of touches and an outstretched leg, he toe-poked the ball between Alexander Schwolow’s legs for the game’s winning goal.

After a restraint celebration, he almost seemed to limp away. His physique isn’t that of a contemporary lithe athlete, yet his game is superlative. His goal served as the perfect illustration and an elongation of his fine form in the post-shutdown Bundesliga. 

Against Werder Bremen, he scored a brace before repeating the feat against Borussia Mönchengladbach, delivering a masterclass in how difficult it is for opponents to monitor him. Did the central defenders need to track the false nine and his movements? If they did, their backline would become vulnerable. The alternative – doing nothing – was as devastating. Roaming free, Havertz’s vertical passing picked Mönchengladbach apart. It also allowed him to create 3v2 or 2v1 situations. Whatever Mönchengladbach’s central pairing decided, they seemed impotent. It was little use of strategizing; Havertz’s always had an answer. 

Is he perhaps just another fine product from Bayer Leverkusen’s conveyor belt of talents? Yes and no, Havertz has the creativity of both Michael Ballack and Toni Kroos as well as the grit of Carsten Ramelow, but he is more versatile than his illustrious predecessors at the Bay Arena. A hybrid player, Havertz is both a number nine and a number ten. He is a player sui generis. Hence, the name Alleskönner, a player who can do everything. Last season, he combined excellently with Julian Brandt, but the latter’s departure to nearby giants Borussia Dortmund has broadened Havertz’s role at Leverkusen. Today, he is the team’s lodestar. Since March, Bosz has been deploying him as a false nine. 

Will he follow Brandt to BVB? By general consensus – read scouts, media and fans – Havertz is a generational talent, a player who will conquer European soccer and leave an inedible mark on the German national team. Leverkusen, a somewhat artificial construct in North Rhine-Westphalia and frowned upon by the traditional clubs from the Ruhr heartlands, is a potent Bundesliga outfit, but at the same time constricted to a role of selling club by the economic realities of European soccer.  

In fact, it is an active strategy of the club to produce talent and sell its brightest players on. The benefits are simple: selling your players to elite clubs generates income that can be allocated to maintaining or even improving the quality of Leverkusen’s squad. 

Leverkusen’s sporting director Simon Rolfes has said that Havertz’s “future is not decided” yet, but the player has outgrown his current club. Both Bayern Munich and Manchester United are reportedly among Havertz’s suitors. The Germany international is valued at over €100 million.

On Saturday, Leverkusen and Havertz take on Bayern Munich. The almighty Bavarians, with the ever-prolific Robert Lewandowski and rejuvenated Thomas Muller, are on the cusp of eighth consecutive domestic crown. In Germany, wearing the Bayern shirt is the highest degree of achievement and pinnacle of a player’s career in conventional terms. 

The Rekordmeister never waste any time in snapping up talent and improving their squad. It is a fail-safe strategy to maintain the upper hand in the Bundesliga. 

At Manchester United, Havertz would compete directly with new signing Bruno Fernandes for a spot in the first eleven, but his versatility would be a welcome addition to Manchester United’s squad, which lacks depth.

For now, the match against Munich offers Havertz another stage just to prove how good he is, keep soccer fans around the world distracted amid the global coronavirus pandemic, and tease Europe’s top clubs with his frightening potential.