Chelsea are not close to signing Bayer Leverkusen attacking midfielder Kai Havertz, according to respected German journalist Raphael Honigstein.

There has been speculation in the English press that the Blues are in pole position to snap up the 21-year-old but Honigstein took to Twitter yesterday to slap down those claims:

There’s a lot of baseless speculation about Kai Havertz doing the rounds at the moment. The truth is that nothing is decided and nothing will be decided any time soon. Here’s a reminder why everybody wants him. https://t.co/YiiYSQYAcW

— Raphael Honigstein (@honigstein) July 14, 2020

In the tweet, he refers to an article he wrote for The Athletic a few days ago in which he details that five other clubs: Manchester United, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Barcelona are also still in contention for Havertz.

Honigstein says (quotes via TEAMtalk) there is no truth to claims that Chelsea are leading the battle to secure the player’s services this summer:

“It would be wrong to suggest that Chelsea are somehow in the lead of this race.”

This will be seen as a setback by some but, at this stage, it appears no one has emerged as the leading candidate with Leverkusen’s €100m (£90m) asking price likely to be the major stumbling block to Havertz leaving the Bundesliga.