Is Kai Havertz Better When He Plays As A Number 10? These Five Stats Suggest He Isn’t

After Kai Havertz scored a brace against England in the Nations League on Monday night, there has been some discussion among Chelsea supporters about what position the 23-year-old should play for the Blues.

At Wembley, he was deployed as a number 10, much deeper than he has generally played during his time at Stamford Bridge. It has led some to argue that it is his best position.

We decided to take a look at the statistics (from FBRef) to see whether this view is accurate. The data suggests, however, that Havertz’s game is NOT suited to playing in a deep-lying role. We would like to emphasise that these stats are (for the most part) taken from his performances across the last year, so it may be the case that if he plays as a no.10 more regularly, these numbers will improve, but we still feel the stats are relevant.

Press the next page as we explain why Havertz isn’t likely to be a good no.10.

Goals To Games Ratio

In his career, playing as a centre-forward for Bayer Leverkusen and Chelsea, Havertz has scored a goal every 2.4 matches, which is a very reasonable return for a 23-year-old.

When playing in a number 10 position, he is less inclined to get into goalscoring positions, averaging a goal every 4.4 games, which means he is nearly twice as likely to score when selected as an out-and-out striker.

Progressive Passes

Over the past twelve months, Havertz is averaging only 2.34 progressive passes per 90 minutes for Chelsea.

If we compare the performances from other players (who play as attacking midfielders) across Europe’s top five leagues in the same period, Havertz is in the bottom 27% when it comes to passes that progress the ball.

Progressive Carries

If we look at the numbers when Havertz carries the ball forward, things don’t get any better for the German international. He averages 4.98 carries per 90 which is in the lowest 25% of all attacking midfielders in Europe’s best leagues.

Again, we do want to preface this assessment by emphasising that these figures could improve if he is given more opportunities to play as a number 10 but it isn’t particularly promising.

Shot Creating Actions

A shot-creating action can be a pass, a foul, dribble or even another shot that leads to a teammate shooting. For a number 10, this is a big stat as their performance is judged on creativity.

Like with progressive passes and carries, though, Havertz’s numbers don’t stack up in comparison with others. He is in the bottom 20% for shot-creating actions compared to other playmakers.

Assists

You can probably guess where this is going, considering we have already gone through the shot-creating action stats. Havertz is not an assist maker.

Over the past twelve months, the German midfielder has averaged 0.1 assists per 90 minutes, which is in the bottom 18 percentile of attacking midfielders/wingers across Europe’s top five leagues.

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