Thomas Tuchel is confident Chelsea will get to see the best of the incredibly talented Kai Havertz but warned there is no quick fix to help him reach his full potential.
Havertz was a big-money signing by the Premier League club prior to the start of the season, having starred in the Bundesliga for Bayer Leverkusen in recent years.
However, after a solid beginning to his career at Stamford Bridge, the 21-year-old has found it tough going in recent months, not aided by contracting coronavirus in November.
Having scored one goal and set up another in his opening five league games, Havertz has managed just one solitary assist since, creating a total of 13 chances in his 18 appearances, albeit only 12 of those have been starts.
The Germany…
Pep Guardiola wishes he could have played in the Premier League and asked Bobby Robson for the chance to sign for Newcastle United.
The Manchester City manager was coming towards the end of his playing career at Barcelona, where Robson won three trophies in a brief spell in charge.
Guardiola has since built a reputation as one of the world s finest coaches, winning the Champions League twice at Barca, but he wishes he could have experienced playing in English football.
Speaking in new film Bobby Robson: More Than A Manager, Guardiola confirmed he was close to a Premier League move in the late 1990s, reuniting with Robson.
I am going to explain something secret, Guardiola said. After the purge in Barcelona, he went to Newcastle and I sent him a letter to …
On Friday, Antonio Conte became the 10th permanent or interim manager to leave Chelsea since Roman Abramovich took the reins in West London, bringing an end to one of the club s more bizarre managerial sagas.
With Maurizio Sarri preparing to sit on one of the hottest seats in football, we had a look at the brave souls that came before him, how they performed and why they were eventually ousted.
Claudio Ranieri (2003 04)
The manager inherited by Abramovich, the Tinkerman lasted 59 games, winning 36 of those for a winning percentage of 61.02%. Despite finishing second in the Premier League, he was controversially removed after the 2003/04 season.
Jose Mourinho (2004-07)
Fresh off a Champions League triumph with Porto, Mourinho arrived…
The search is on for a successor to Joachim Low after Germany s long-serving national team boss announced he would step down after Euro 2020.
Low will complete a 15-year tour of duty as head coach when he leads Die Mannschaft into this year s tournament, delayed a year by the COVID-19 crisis.
His contract had been due to run until after Germany s Qatar 2022 World Cup campaign, but 61-year-old Low has decided the time will be right to step aside before then.
That means the Germany Football Association (DFB) must spring into action and find the right coach to take over from Low, a World Cup winner in 2014.
DFB president Fritz Keller said: The fact that he informed us about his decision at an early stage is very decent. He gives the DFB consequently the nec…
Raheem Sterling added a late brace, Gabriel Jesus had a double of his own and Kevin De Bruyne had turned in a virtuoso substitute performance.
Manchester City ransacked Watford 6-0 in Saturday s FA Cup final to complete an unprecedented domestic treble before a buoyant sea of sky blue at Wembley, a fanbase with heroes everywhere they chose to look.
Yet it wasn t any of the goalscorers, or even the irrepressible and immaculate Bernardo Silva who had their name sung longest and loudest throughout the 90 minutes and deep into the celebrations.
Here s to you, Vincent Kompany. City loves you more than you will know.
A terrace chant howled vaguely to the tune of Mrs Robinson by Simon Garfunkel, the relationship between City fans and their long-serving capta…
Diego Simeone took a share of the blame for a 2-1 defeat at Athletic Bilbao and reiterated Atletico Madrid must show they have the mental strength to be crowned LaLiga champions.
Atleti s title hopes suffered a blow at San Mames on Sunday as Inigo Martinez s header four minutes from time consigned the leaders to what could be a costly loss.
Stefan Savic had equalised after 77 minutes, netting his first goal in the Spanish top flight for almost four years, after Alex Berenguer gave Athletic an early lead.
Martinez had the final say, though, nodding in a corner after being left unmarked to leave Atleti just two points ahead of Real Madrid and Barcelona, with Ronald Koeman s men able to take over at the summit if they win their game in hand.
Simeone says…
Pep Guardiola had no interest in discussing a potential move for Robert Lewandowski as Manchester City still wait to make a striker signing.
Guardiola was speaking at City s news conference ahead of Saturday s game against Norwich City, where he revealed Kevin De Bruyne is a doubt with an ankle issue.
Even without De Bruyne, City should have enough in creative areas against Norwich, having signed Jack Grealish for a British record £100million fee.
But Guardiola s men remain light up front, with Sergio Aguero departing for Barcelona and a move for Harry Kane so far failing to come to fruition.
Reports this week of Lewandowski s unhappiness at Bayern Munich, Guardiola s former club, prompted questions about possible interest.
Lewandowski was at Bay…
Ross Barkley missed a late penalty as Chelsea s Champions League campaign under Frank Lampard began with a 1-0 loss to Valencia in Group H.
Valencia s off-the-field issues have overshadowed their on-field exploits since Marcelino s sacking last week, but Albert Celades side bounced back from their 5-2 defeat to Barcelona with a resilient performance at Stamford Bridge.
With Jasper Cillessen in fine form and Mason Mount s injury having compounded Chelsea s frustrations, the Blues frailties were exposed once more when Rodrigo Moreno prodded in Dani Parejo s free-kick with16 minutes remaining.
VAR came to Chelsea s rescue when the referee decided to award the hosts a spot-kick for a Daniel Wass handball, but substitute Barkley who overruled Willian to take th…
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says his Manchester United side took their foot off the pedal in their disappointing 1-0 home defeat to Arsenal on Sunday.
United thumped RB Leipzig 5-0 in the Champions League in midweek but were badly off the pace against Mikel Arteta s side, who triumphed thanks to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang s 69th-minute penalty.
The result means United have lost three and drawn one of their opening four home Premier League games, with the Red Devils now languishing 15th in the table.
Solskjaer was frustrated with his side s display and says a lack of intensity was behind their downfall.
We never turned up in the first half, he told Sky Sports. The intensity, tempo and shape weren t there. They were better than us in the first half and created a c…
Another day, another milestone for the legendary Cristiano Ronaldo.
Although he was made to wait almost a year since his 99th international goal, the prolific forward racked up a century for Portugal against Sweden on Tuesday.
In doing so, Ronaldo becomes just the second male player to tally 100 at international level and is closing in on Ali Daei s record haul of 109 for Iran.
This was another special strike. Below, we have selected five of Ronaldo s greatest goals for Portugal.
Love this feeling
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano)
Denmark v Portugal (October 11, 2011)
Ronaldo could have his own wing in the Hall of Fame for free-kicks including Tuesday s milestone goal and this effort would be at home among them.
Portugal…