Kai Havertz Heracles Bayer LeverkusenGetty/Goal

Dutch side Heracles jokingly announce signing of Chelsea target Havertz

Heracles Almelo have jokingly announced the signing of Bayer Leverkusen star Kai Havertz after Peter Bosz claimed he was joining the Dutch club following their Europa League exit.

Leverkusen's European campaign came to an end against Inter on Monday night as they were beaten 2-1 by the Serie A side in Dusseldorf.

Nicolo Barella and Romelu Lukaku had given Inter a commanding lead inside 21 minutes, before Havertz reduced the deficit three minutes later.

Article continues below

As reported by Goal, Chelsea are keen on signing the 21-year-old although Leverkusen have warned that their star man will only be sold if the Blues pay their asking price.

And Bosz was asked whether the Germany international had played his final match for the club in a post-match press conference following his side's defeat to Antonio Conte's Inter.

He said: "Yes, I can exclusively announce he'll play for Heracles Almelo."

And following Bosz's declaration, Heracles were quick to post a joke announcement that revealed that they had signed the forward.

Leverkusen are demanding around €100 million (£90m/$111m) for Havertz, with Chelsea hoping to drive the price down to a figure in the region of €76m (£70m/$87m).

The Bundesliga club's sporting director Rudi Voller has said that anyone interested in signing Havertz must pay the asking price otherwise he will stay at the BayArena for another year.

Asked if Leverkusen have agreed to sell Havertz, Voller told  Gazzetta dello Sport : "No, but with his talent, it means he's on the list of all the best clubs.

"We know of the interest of a couple of clubs, especially Chelsea, but for us, the situation is quite simple: he has a two-year contract, if anyone wants him on our terms, fine, otherwise he stays here another year and we are happy.

"It won't be easy, but for an artist like him there is no Covid discount."

Reflecting on Leverkusen's Europa League exit, Bosz said: "We lost against a great opponent. We didn't play well in the first 20 minutes and had problems dealing with Lukaku, then things improved and we thought that we would turn it around. We could've done better and are disappointed.

"Marcelo Brozovic was allowed far too much freedom in the middle of the park and we had to make changes after those initial 20 minutes. As for Lukaku, he's just too strong in one-on-one situations.

"We moved [Moussa] Diaby to the left, because they were pressing our wide men, and Diego Godin doesn't like coming out from the back, so we had more space then to build."

Advertisement