Teenage sensation Kai Havertz will not be leaving Bayer Leverkusen this summer, despite reports of a huge bid from Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich.
TZ reported on Monday that Bayern had tabled a €90 million (£80m/$101m) offer for the 19-year-old, after a stunning breakthrough season at Leverkusen.
But his club are in no mood to discuss a transfer for Havertz, who is under contract until 2022.
"A transfer of Kai Havertz is impossible. And we don't participate in speculation about real or unreal offers for the player," a Leverkusen spokesperson told Goal and SPOX.
Interest from Bayern is no surprise, with Havertz having thrust his name into the spotlight in 2018-19 with a superb return of 17 goals in 34 Bundesliga appearances – the highest ever Bundesliga total recorded by a teenager.
His haul of 19 in all competitions was the club’s best as they secured Champions League qualification with a fourth-place finish.
Only Robert Lewandowski and Paco Alcacer netted more than him in the Bundesliga and, with fellow star Julian Brandt on his way out of BayAren to Borussia Dortmund, Leverkusen have no intention of losing two key players.
Havertz has been at Leverkusen from the age of 11, and has been passing milestones for the club ever since.
He is their youngest ever league debutant, youngest ever goalscorer, and the youngest player to reach 50 appearances in the German top flight.
Two-footed and technically superb, he made his full international debut at the beginning of the season, replacing Timo Werner in a 2-1 friendly win against Peru.
Havertz is German football’s next big hope, described by some in the national press as an ‘Alleskoenner’ – a player who can do everything.
Given their reputation for hoovering up the best talent from around the Bundesliga, interest from Bayern was inevitable, but Leverkusen would be loathe to lose their star man.
With three years still remaining on his contract and Champions League football on offer, they are in a strong position to keep hold of him.
It could continue a frustrating summer for Bayern, who seem likely to be facing disappointment in their well-publicised chase of Manchester City’s Leroy Sane as they seek to replace Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery and James Rodriguez.
