Why Chelsea owner Abramovich has changed his mind on Kai’s transfer

Chelsea chiefs are now willing to pay what Bayer Leverkusen want for Kai Havertz because the structure of the payments suit them, according to Sky Sports reporter Kaveh Solhekol.

Germany international Havertz is closing in on a £90million move to Stamford Bridge. However, Chelsea were previously not prepared to pay that much for the player.

Solhekol claims Leverkusen have always wanted £90m (€100m) for Havertz if he were to leave the club in this transfer window.

Chelsea did not feel that was a realistic asking price in the current climate caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

However, the Blues are now willing to go through with a deal, with £20m of the £90m in potential add-ons.

“I think Chelsea are getting closer to a deal to sign Kai Havertz from Bayer Leverkusen and it’s likely to cost up to €100m,” Solhekol said on Sky Sports News.

“That is a really important figure as far as Bayer Leverkusen are concerned because that is the value that they set on the player.

“They’ve been very consistent, they’ve said: ‘If you want to sign Kai Havertz this summer, that is what it’s going to take to get him’.

“Chelsea initially were reluctant to pay that much, especially in the current economic climate.

“But I think they are getting closer to the kind of deal whereby Leverkusen could say ‘yes, we got our asking price’ but then Chelsea could say ‘when you factor in the installments, the down-payment, the bonuses, we’re actually getting him for less than that figure’.

“But progress is being made and it’s likely to end with Chelsea signing Kai Havertz for something like £70m plus about £20m in add-ons, which would be a total of £90m, which would come to €100m, so everyone would be happy.

“Leverkusen would be happy, Chelsea would be happy, Chelsea supporters would be ecstatic.”

Solhekol claims Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is committed to leading Chelsea back to the top of the Premier League.

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“I think basically what’s happened is that Roman Abramovich has spotted an opportunity in the market,” Solhekol said.

“He has seen that this is a great time if you’ve got a lot of money to spend money on world-class players because you’re getting them a bit cheaper than you normally would.

There had been question marks about Roman Abramovich – ‘had he lost interest in Chelsea?’.

“But from the outside looking in, it looks like Roman Abramovich is 100 per cent committed to Chelsea.”