Chelsea star Kai Havertz feels for Romelu Lukaku over his form woes.
Havertz is the player threatening to keep Lukaku out of the team for the Carabao Cup final against Liverpool as Chelsea’s £97.5m record signing is struggling for form, goals and he now faces a battle to kickstart his career.
But there is genuine warmth towards a team-mate and friend from Havertz, rather than seeing Lukaku as a rival.
Havertz said: “I know this feeling. It’s not easy when you come to a club with a £100m package and everyone wants you to perform from the first to the last minute in a game. We are all human, everyone makes mistakes, but apart from that we are a little bit too bad on Rom.
“You cannot forget he scored in the semi-final and the final of the Club World Cup, goals which were huge for us. So, you cannot forget that.
“I was not the first in that situation. There were a lot of Chelsea players before in that situation. Rom is the not the first and he will be also not the last one. It takes some time.”
Havertz is the player for the big occasion. He scored the winner in the Champions League final, the winner in the Club World Cup final and now he has the chance for more success against Liverpool on Sunday.
“You know you have to enjoy these moments,” said Havertz. “After my career I am going to sit there and you could think ‘why didn’t I enjoy these moments more? As a kid, you see these games and think ‘how does the player feel? He is so happy.
“We play football to reach games like these, to play finals, I think everyone dreams of playing these games, these are the biggest games you can play as a footballer and we have a good opponent, a strong opponent on Sunday.