Chelsea are edging closer to the appointment of Mauricio Pochettino as their new manager and the Argentine could be the man to finally get the best out of Kai Havertz at Stamford Bridge.
Will Pochettino be Chelsea's new manager?
According to The Telegraph, Pochettino is now in final negotiations to become the Blues' next permanent manager, after both Luis Enrique and Julian Nagelsmann dropped out of the running.
The 51-year-old, who was most recently manager of PSG, is well known to Premier League fans having enjoyed successful spells with both Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur, averaging 1.45 and 1.84 points per game with those two clubs.
He cultivated his impressive reputation with PSG, winning the Ligue 1 title in 2021/22, as well as two domestic trophies the season prior to earn his first honours as a manager, having famously struggled to win anything in his time at Spurs.
It isn't clear whether Pochettino will take over now or at the end of the season as initially planned with Frank Lampard continuing as interim manager, although the four defeats from four under the former Everton boss may change Todd Boehly's thinking.
However, with a full pre-season under his belt at Stamford Bridge, the former Espanyol man would be able to properly integrate his ideas and steer Chelsea towards a more successful 2023/24 season, where Havertz could be key to his plans.
Could Pochettino get the best out of Havertz?
This season has been a difficult one for the former Bayer Leverkusen man, despite him leading the way for goals in Chelsea's squad with seven to his name in the Premier League.
However, the Blues' woes in front of goal mean that he is always likely to be a scapegoat for disappointed fans and in fairness, his lack of consistency in the final third has been a problem throughout his spell at Stamford Bridge, with Understat suggesting that he has underperformed on his expected goals in each of his three seasons in west London.
BBC pundit Chris Sutton labelled the £150k-per-week forward "hopeless" after a less-than-impressive display in the 4-0 defeat against Manchester City earlier this year but he has consistently been asked to play as a striker at Chelsea when he had excelled previously as an attacking midfielder in the Bundesliga.
Chelsea need only look towards Spurs' best season under Pochettino, which arguably came in the 2016/17 campaign when a front four of Christian Eriksen, Heung-min Son, Dele Alli and Harry Kane caused huge problems for opposition defences.
Alli, in particular, would thrive under the Argentine in a shadow-striker role, where he was afforded the freedom to get forward in support of Kane, going on to notch 18 goals and seven assists in 37 Premier League appearances with a phenomenal 7.35 average rating from WhoScored.
Havertz has proven himself to be an "exceptional" talent on his day – in the words of Ilkay Gundogan – and the introduction of an arguably world-class manager at Stamford Bridge, along with a potential positional change to see him play in a similar attacking midfield role to the one Alli excelled in at Spurs, could be exactly what Havertz needs to finally live up to his potential with Chelsea.
