Chelsea ready to pay £70m for Kai Havertz

Chelsea are prepared to make a formal bid to sign Kai Havertz from Bayer Leverkusen, a report from Evening Standard claims.

The Germany international has enjoyed a superb season on an individual basis for Leverkusen and he has registered 17 goals and nine assists from 43 outings.

According to Evening Standard, Blues boss Frank Lampard considers Havertz as the missing piece in the puzzle and the club are prepared to step up their pursuit of his services.

Leverkusen are looking for a fee of £90m for their graduate, but the Blues are hoping to landing his signature for £70m after the club failed to qualify for the Champions League through a top-four finish in the Bundesliga.

Leverkusen still have the chance of qualifying for the elite competition by winning the Europa League title next month, but the Blues are optimistic about their prospects of signing the German prior to that.

The Blues have already signed Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner from Ajax and RB Leipzig respectively. It is claimed that they are also interested in Leicester City's Ben Chilwell and West Ham United's Declan Rice.