Peter Crouch has drawn Mesut Ozil comparisons for Kai Havertz after his disappointing display against Juventus in the UEFA Champions League.
Speaking to BT Sport, Peter Crouch has offered his thoughts on Kai Havertz’s recent struggles at Chelsea. The former Tottenham forward has compared the Chelsea playmaker to Mesut Ozil due to his on and off nature of the football and questionable body language.
Crouch’s comments came in the aftermath of Chelsea’s 1-0 defeat to Juventus in midweek, in the UEFA Champions League. The European champions looked devoid of ideas going forward, being held to a clean sheet by the Italian giants, with Kai Havertz ending up as one of the poor performers on the pitch.
And in light of his recent struggles at Stamford Bridge, Crouch has compared the German to his fellow compatriot Mesut Ozil. The former striker believes that the youngster is extremely gifted in possession but his body language is simply not up to the mark.
Transfer Market Web has recently published the 40-year-old’s post-match comments to BT Sport, where he has questioned Havertz’s style of play as well as his performance against Juventus.
“I thought Ziyech and Havertz were very disappointing. I think Havertz reminds me of Ozil. He does things where it comes easy to him and he looks technically brilliant.”, he said.
Havertz had initially arrived at Chelsea last summer, for a fee of €80 million. He was brought in from Bayer Leverkusen, where he had 46 goals and 31 assists in 150 competitive outings. But Crouch went on to criticise the playmaker’s work ethic, suggesting: “He can also look lazy and laboured at times and he can frustrate you and I thought tonight they were frustrating.”
Mesut Ozil was one of the most successful Germans to ever play in the Premier League, scoring 44 goals while registering 77 assists in 254 competitive games for Arsenal. But he was forced out of Emirates by Mikel Arteta, who had frozen him out of the first team after his struggles with form and facing criticism for his body language on the pitch.
Crouch’s comments are perhaps an early warning sign for Kai Havertz, who has had a difficult start to the campaign. He certainly needs to improve his performances in order to avoid the harsh criticism faced by his fellow compatriot Timo Werner, who is now even being linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge.
