Kai Havertz: The Alleskönner

Kai Havertz is a special kid. He is the Jack of All Trade and his maturity at such a young age has made him the most wanted players in the transfer market….  

Since the return of Bundesliga, some of the players have started to exhibit their talent as if the break has done well for them in rediscovering their mojo. Alphonso Davies seems better than ever, while Kai Havertz of Bayer Leverkusen has become the Jack of All Trade.

A few days ago, the 20-year-old made a new Bundesliga record with his match-winning goal against Freiburg - after flicking the ball on to Leon Bailey, Havertz charged forward to receive the return pass and slotted past Freiburg goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow to round off an impressive team move.

The goal is Havertz's 35th in the Bundesliga since his debut in 2016 and he is the first player to hit that tally before the age of 21. He is now closing in on Leverkusen's top 10 scorers of all time - he needs just seven to catch 10th-placed former Leverkusen star, Oliver Neuville.

In this calendar year, he has been the most productive player in Europe's top five leagues, scoring nine goals and assisting a further four – the strike was his fifth in the four games Peter Bosz's side have played and his 15th in 38 appearances in all competitions this season.

At Bayer, he plays at the center-forward position right now, even though, as an attacking midfielder and winger, he is equally productive.

The early days

Havertz was born in Aachen, Germany, Havertz received his first experience in football at the age of four when he joined amateur side Alemannia Mariadorf, where his grandfather, Richard, was chairman of the club.

His talent started to flourish there and was picked up by the scouts of Youth Team.

Havertz made his debut for the Germany national under-16 team on 11 November 2014, starting in the friendly match against the Czech Republic before being substituted out in the 57th minute for Tom Baack. The match finished as a 3–1 win for Germany.

Havertz was included in Germany's squad for the 2016 UEFA European Under-17 Championship in Azerbaijan. He appeared in all five of Germany's matches, scoring once before Germany were eliminated by Spain in the semi-finals.

Following a 15-month absence from youth internationals, Havertz made his debut for Germany's under-19 team, debuting on 31 August 2017 in the 0–0 friendly draw against Switzerland, coming on in the 72nd minute for Palko Dardai.

On October 4, 2017, in his third appearance for the under-19 team, Havertz scored four goals in a 5–1 win against Belarus in the first round of European Under-19 Championship qualifying. He was later named captain of the under-19 side.

The German senior team call-up

On August 29, 2018, Havertz was called up to Germany's senior team for the first time by head coach Joachim Löw. He was included in the squad for Germany's UEFA Nations League match against France and friendly against Peru.

Havertz made his international debut on 9 September 2018, coming on as a substitute in the 88th minute for Timo Werner against Peru, with the match finishing as a 2–1 home win for Germany. Upon making his debut, he became the first player born in 1999 to represent the national team.

The days at Bayer Leverkusen

In 2009, he was signed by the second division side Alemannia Aachen where he spent only a year in the club's academy before joining Bayer Leverkusen at the age of 11.

In the years that followed, he had to overcome the challenges associated with growth spurts, and in 2016, after scoring 18 goals for the club's U-17 side, he was awarded the silver U-17, Fritz Walter Medal, before breaking into Leverkusen's senior side the following year.

Havertz made his debut for Bayer Leverkusen on 15 October 2016, coming on as a second-half substitute for Charles Aránguiz in a 2–1 Bundesliga loss to Werder Bremen.

Upon entering the field of play, he became the club's youngest ever Bundesliga debutant at the age of 17 years and 126 days, although his record was broken by 111 days by Florian Wirtz in 2020.

In 2017, he assisted teammate Karim Bellarabi to score the 50, 000-th Bundesliga goal.

 Four days later, following the suspension of teammate Hakan Calhanoglu, he was handed his first Champions League start in the first leg of a round of 16 loss to Atlético Madrid.

Havertz scored his first goal for Bayer on April 2, 2017, netting a later equalizer in a 3–3 draw with VfL Wolfsburg.

Upon doing so, Havertz broke another club record to become Leverkusen's youngest-ever goalscorer in the Bundesliga at the age of 17.

He ultimately made 28 appearances across all competitions and scored four goals, including a brace against Hertha BSC on the final day of the season, as Leverkusen ended the campaign in 12th position.

In 2018, Havertz became the youngest player in the history of the Bundesliga to reach 50 appearances at 18 years and 307 days old, breaking the record previously held by Timo Werner. He went on to end his second full campaign with the club with 30 league appearances and three goals to his name as Leverkusen ended the season in fifth place.

On January 26, 2019, he became Leverkusen's youngest-ever penalty scorer when he scored from the spot in a 3–0 league win over Wolfsburg, aged 19 years, seven months and 16 days. The following month, he became the second youngest-ever player to achieve 75 Bundesliga appearances, behind Julian Draxler, when he started and scored in a 2–0 win over Fortuna Düsseldorf.

On April 13, 2019, he scored on his 100th appearance for Leverkusen to help the club to a 1–0 league win over Stuttgart. The goal, his 13th for the campaign, also saw him become the youngest player since Stuttgart's own Horst Koppel in 1967–68 to score 13 goals in a single league season.

On 5 May, he scored his 15th goal of the campaign during a 6–1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt; a match which for the first time ever saw seven goals scored in the first half of a Bundesliga match. On the final day of the season, he became the highest-scoring teenager in a single Bundesliga campaign when he scored his 17th goal during a 5–1 win over Hertha BSC.

At the end of the season, he was named runner-up to Marco Reus for the German Footballer of the Year award, losing out by just 37 votes.

The shining star of 2019-20 season - Alleskönner

As mentioned before Havertz has been dazzling since the Bundesliga resumed after the break.

Technically, Havertz is extremely gifted.

He is equally adept at using both feet and head.

This season, his vision and creativity have already drawn comparisons with German greats like Michael Ballack, Toni Kroos and Mesut Ozil.

Critics are calling him -  Alleskönner – the player who can do everything.

The target of Real Madrid

No wonder, big clubs in Europe are after this talent.

As Marca reported, “Before coronavirus came along, Real Madrid had big plans for this summer.

Their priorities in the transfer market were strengthening their midfield and adding a striker to their squad, but now those operations have been put on hold.

Erling Haaland and Eduardo Camavinga were among those attracting interest from Los Blancos, but they'll have to wait for their move.

Those two weren't the only targets, though, with Bayer Leverkusen's Kai Havertz also a top candidate”.

Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Liverpool, Chelsea and Juventus have joined the race.

Leverkusen, meanwhile, have made clear they will not be selling for anything less than €100 million (£90m/$111m).

When such talents emerge, obviously their demands would be high.

The talent of Havertz would turn into deeds and help him share the platform with Lotha Matthaus, Toni Kroos, Thomas Hassler, Michael Ballack, Walter Fritz, Mark Overrah, and others.  

Note: Information gathered from Wikipedia

Note: This article has been published at Cricketsoccer on 01/06/2020 Kai Havertz: The Alleskönner 

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Faisal Caesar