Havertz dreaming of Chelsea silverware after painful finish at Leverkusen

Paul Macdonald

• Updated: 23 May 2023 08:42 CDT
• 4 min read

Kai Havertz has explained why he has more motivation than most to win silverware in his first season with Chelsea.

Chelsea host Sheffield United, who are bottom of the Premier League and lost 5-0 at Leicester City last time out, in the FA Cup quarter-finals on Sunday.

READ MORE: What if Bayern had bought Havertz instead?

The Blues are therefore hot favourites to join Manchester City and Southampton in the last four, with Leicester and Manchester United doing battle in the other last-eight tie.

Chelsea are also well placed in the Champions League, having made it through to the quarters and being handed a favourable draw against Porto.

Havertz believes Chelsea are looking good in their pursuit of silverware under Thomas Tuchel and is clear it was one of his main motivations for joining the club in a huge £71 million move.

Discussing the FA Cup with the Chelsea website, Havertz said: “I know it’s a very big competition here in England.

“It’s a funny story actually, one year ago, there was a Netflix series, The English Game, and I used to watch it with my father together. In the past I watched some FA Cup games too.

“It’s a big ambition of mine to win trophies at Chelsea.

“When you play for Chelsea you always want to win trophies. We are in a very good position but there is a long way in front of us.

“We have to go into every game like it’s a final.

“There’s no second chance, we have to win this game to get through to the next round. Hopefully we have a good day on Sunday and we get through to the next round.”

Havertz suffered cup woe before Chelsea move

Attacking midfielder Havertz racked up 18 goals and nine assists in a brilliant final season with Leverkusen which helped him to secure the move to Stamford Bridge.

But the end of his stay was a painful one, as hopes of winning the first two trophies of his career slipped away.

The last domestic match for Havertz was a 4-2 loss to Bayern Munich in the DFB-Pokal final.

His last game for the club was a 2-1 defeat to Inter in the Europa League quarter-finals, with Havertz scoring in both those contests.

Ahead of the Sheffield United game, the 21-year-old reflected on that Bayern cup final defeat but prefers to look at it in a positive light.

“It’s the same in Germany, it’s a very big competition,” he said.

“It was a little bit unlucky because it was the first year without fans.

“Normally the atmosphere is amazing with 80,000 people, you play in the Olympiastadion.

“We got to the final, we lost against Bayern. It was a very big game and as a footballer you like to play these games.

“But it was a very good experience for us. It was a big achievement to get as far as we did.”

Havertz has five goals and five assists for Chelsea in a disappointing first season.

He has not had a goal involvement since January 10 against Morecambe in the FA Cup, two weeks before Tuchel was appointed.