Since the departure of Miroslav Klose, a seemingly never-ending striker debate has been raging in the DFB team. Kai Havertz is currently taking over the post on the nine, but the Chelsea star is not beyond doubt either. After the game against Japan, Havertz is of course also under scrutiny. But he was now annoyed by the debate about his position.
Kai Havertz is an offensive all-rounder, as he is in the book. In football, however, the same sometimes applies as in the restaurant business. Anyone who can do everything does nothing really well. Of course, the 23-year-old is a strong player, but not one who can keep up with strikers like Lewandowski, Kane or Haaland. After Havertz’s mediocre performance against Japan, he was repeatedly asked about his favorite position on the PK. The Champions League final hero from 2021 reacted to this question a little thin-skinned. “The position question is really annoying me now, I have to say. Everyone now knows that I can be used flexibly, that I play number nine that I can play number ten, that I can play on the right, that I can play on the left,” explained the moderately-tempered DFB kicker. For him, the only thing that counts is throwing everything into the balance for the team. “I step on the gas, no matter where it is in the end,” he clarified.
However, Havertz also admitted that the tasks in the center of the attack are different, that you are “a little better integrated into the game” on the ten and you have to “find other spaces” on the nine. Whether the flexible attacking player also plays against Spain from the start may is still uncertain. In any case, he was self-critical about his own performance against Japan. “As a striker, you have an obligation to score goals. I didn’t do that against Japan,” he said disappointedly. It’s possible that Flick is going for a real top with Niclas Füllkrug or Youssoufa Moukoko instead of the Chelsea star.
This article was originally published on 90min.de as Vor “Endspiel” vs. Spain: Kai Havertz is annoyed by that.
