Chelsea have been given a transfer warning by Bayer Leverkusen sporting director Rudi Voller over Kai Havertz, and he said the Blues must meet their terms to land the player.
According to reports, Chelsea opened negotiations with Leverkusen over a possible £69m deal for Havertz, who was one of the best players in the Bundesliga in the 2019-20 season.
Chelsea have already spent £84m to sign Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner from Ajax and RB Leipzig respectively, and Voller has now confirmed the blues will have to pay a club-record fee to sign Havertz.
Asked if Bayer Leverkusen have already agreed to sell Havertz, Voller said: “No, but with his talent, it means he’s on the list of all the best clubs.
“We know of the interest of a couple of clubs, especially Chelsea, but for us, the situation is quite simple; he has a two-year contract, if anyone wants him on our terms, fine, otherwise he stays here another year and we are happy.
“It won’t be easy, but for an artist like him there is no Covid discount.”
“Of course he will play [in the Europa League quarter-final], also because he wants to,” he said. “I am a bit old-fashioned: for me a season is over when it all ends.
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“Nobody leaves first. Now, with Covid-19, there have been transfers before the end of the season, but not from us.”
Voller added on Kai Havertz’s talent: “For me, he’s the best I’ve seen at Leverkusen, and I’ve been here for a lifetime. We had Emerson, [Michael] Ballack, Ze Roberto, [Toni] Kroos, but he’s on top.
“He is very young, he can play five or six roles, he has been here for 10 years. When he was 17, I asked the first-team coach to let him train with the greats during the national team break.
“After three days Roger Schmidt never made him return to the youth team. He has talent with the ball at his feet, he is a mix between Ballack and [Mesut] Ozil, but he takes the best bits from both of them.”
