Chelsea’s $92M Champions League Hero Needs To 'Fight His Way Back,' Says Thomas Tuchel

Chelsea’s Champions League hero Kai Havertz has not featured much for the Blues this season following which Thomas Tuchel said “he needs to fight his way back into the team.”

Tuchel’s comments came ahead of Chelsea’s Champions League clash with Malmo at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.

“Kai does everything to reach his level again and we do everything to help him, and he is an important player for our squad. He was very strong in pre-season, he started strong in the season, the story has not changed. But he lacks the statistics of decisive things – goals and assists - and he needs to fight his way back into the team,” Tuchel told Chelsea’s official website on the eve of their match against Malmo.

Having featured in 10 matches, across all competitions, this season, Havertz has scored just one goal and provided one assist.

“This can happen any time. We trust in him and we believe in him and the rest has to come from him. He's in a good shape, he's in a good mental state, he knows what he's fighting for, and that's the situation right now,” added Tuchel.

Out of the 10 matches, he has played, Havertz has been included in Tuchel’s starting XI only six times. He remained an unused substitute in Chelsea’s Premier League clash with Southampton, which they won 3-1 and in their 5-4 win on penalties against Aston Villa in the League Cup.

Havertz, who moved from Bayern Leverkusen to Chelsea at $92 million in the summer of 2020, had a decent start to his career in the U.K. He scored nine goals and assisted as many in the 2020-21 campaign, which also included the winner against Manchester City that had handed Chelsea their second Champions League trophy.

Meanwhile, Tuchel also pointed out that it is important for his side to stay with the current team structure.

"You can also score from counter-attacks and from ball wins. Creating chances against the opponent who's defending deep, and a lot of teams are defending deep against us at the moment, it's maybe the most difficult thing. So we're looking for solutions. That's why we're here. One solution could be to change the formation to put more offensive players. Let’s see," said Tuchel ahead of Chelsea’s upcoming game against Malmo.

After losing to Juventus 1-0 last month, Chelsea will look to returning to winning ways when they take on Malmo at home on Wednesday.