Kai Havertz made a telling impression on Bayer Leverkusen's return to Bundesliga action on Monday night as he scored twice to help his side to a comprehensive 4-1 away victory over struggling Werder Bremen.
After putting Leverkusen ahead after 28 minutes, nodding home from Moussa Diaby's cross at the back post, the 20-year-old attacking-midfielder was at it again just five minutes later, this time heading home, unmarked, from a free-kick.
His performance was certainly impressive, especially when you take into account that competitive match-action has been absent in Germany for over two months because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Premier League clubs have been closely monitoring the youngster's progress in recent months and they will have been impressed by what they saw on Monday night.
And the Germany international, too, has been compared to former Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack, who, of course, is one of the biggest names to have emerged from German football in its rich and colourful history, by former Liverpool man Dietmar Hamann.
On why he compares to Ballack, as well as discussing why so many English clubs will be interested in signing him, Hamann told Sky Sports: “He is an exceptional player, he reminds me of a young Michael Ballack.
"He has got that air of arrogance in a good way, he’s just a natural, he’s tall, he’s two-footed, he’s good in the air, he is very versatile and can play in any position.
“I think he is the best player we have got in Germany at the moment.
"There is talk about teams making a move to bring him to England and Havertz is the one I would be looking at.”
