Graham Potter’s Chelsea: Where will Kai Havertz play?

Havertz has a tidy touch and very good technical ability. He’s very good at receiving the ball in tight areas, especially in advanced areas of the pitch. He’s also superb at running into space left by the opposition defenders, which is why he’s very good at arriving at the right time in the box to score goals. This suggests the team is best served with him as a central attacking midfielder. Yes, he’s good at getting on the end of high-quality chances, which is what many center forwards are good at, but a few things suggest he won’t be phenomenal at the central attacker role.

One: Havertz not good at occupying centerbacks. Many modern pundits and fans have led some people to believe that it’s no longer cool to be an actual center forward. They call them “traditional No.9s”. The narrative is that archetypal athletes in this instance are limited and should contribute more like midfielders, rather than what the game actually needs from them. Havertz dropped deep often when he played last season and many Chelsea fans loved it. In fact, they used this fact to bash Romelu Lukaku often.

The problem is that what many people incorrectly label “just standing there” is actually center forwards occupying the centerbacks. This is important because CBs find it easier to defend against players that are often far from them and are comfortably in their field of vision. They don’t want strikers close to them, because it means they have to watch him AND the ball.