Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson says he was not convinced by Chelsea’s record signing Kai Havertz during the 3-1 win over Brighton last week.

The German international did not make much of an impression on his debut, before being substituted, and Merson wasn’t particularly impressed by the 21-year-old’s attitude when he was replaced by Callum Hudson-Odoi on 80 minutes:

“Kai Havertz has got a lot do. He didn’t play well. He didn’t even look interested at times. When he came off, he didn’t really seem to care. It was strange.”

It must be stressed that Havertz was selected to start by manager Frank Lampard despite the midfielder having had very few training sessions with his new club. The player had not taken part in any preseason friendlies either so it was not surprising that he was well off the pace.

The German may need a bit of time before we see the best of him in a Chelsea shirt and making early judgements on the player, like Merson has done, is probably unwise. It will, however, be interesting to see how Havertz gets on against Liverpool tomorrow.