Chelsea reaping Kai Havertz rewards after Real Madrid's last-minute transfer U-turn

Kai Havertz is likely to lead the line for Chelsea as they square off against Real Madrid in the Champions League for the second consecutive season, knowing just how close he once came to joining the La Liga giants instead.

Chelsea pulled off a coup when they agreed a £72million deal to sign Havertz from Bayer Leverkusen in September 2020. The Blues had beaten Real, along with Barcelona, Manchester United and Bayern Munich, to secure the highly-rated German’s signature. But it could have all been very different had it not been for the coronavirus pandemic.

Havertz had made it clear that he was keen to make the next step up in his career after outgrowing Leverkusen, with 16 goals in the Bundesliga in 2019-20. According to Goal, Madrid had engaged in talks with the German outfit over a deal to sign the attacking midfielder and Havertz was keen on a move to the Santiago Bernabeu.

That was until the spread of the virus halted football across Europe’s top five leagues, forcing clubs to hit the pause button on their transfer plans. But Chelsea, backed by Roman Abramovich’s billions, were seemingly immune after banking £180m from the sales of Eden Hazard and Alvaro Morata in 2019.

Leverkusen had initially slapped a €100m (£84m) asking price above Havertz’s head, hoping to spark a bidding war. But Real’s withdrawal from talks forced them to lower their demands, allowing Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia to pounce. After months of negotiations, she negotiated a deal worth an initial £62m fee, with a further £10m in add-ons.

For Chelsea, it represented a massive investment. A club-record transfer fee spent on a largely unproven 20-year-old came not without a large risk attached, as highlighted in the first months of