Lothar Matthäus touts Kai Havertz for Bayern Munich’s future

Former Bayern Munich great and Germany international Lothar Matthäus thinks that Bayer Leverkusen star Kai Havertz has all the makings of Germany’s next big thing.

Speaking to kicker (and as captured by the Münchner Merkur), Matthäus was blunt when assessing if Bayern Munich should make a player for the 20-year-old star.

If they have a chance, in any case, but there will be big international competition.

Therein lies the rub for Bayern. Havertz will not be moving this summer and will have the entirety of the 2019-2020 season to build upon his already impressive resume. The more successful that Havertz becomes, the more difficult it will be for Bayern to convince Germany’s greatest young talent to stay within the friendly confines of Deutschland’s borders:

Kai Havertz has set the bar very high. He set the bar very high, for me he was the player of the season. If Havertz can maintain that high level, with that ease, cleverness, presence on the pitch and goal scoring, he could eventually become my successor as a world footballer.

While Matthäus thinks Havertz is on his way to super-stardom, the player-turned-pundit also thinks that Havertz will eventually have to leave Leverkusen to reach his potential:

Not in Leverkusen, but another year there will do him good. He can play Champions League. After that, he will probably make the step to a big club.

Havertz recently finished second behind Marco Reus in the 2019 German Footballer of the Year poll. To eventually land Havertz, though, Bayern will have to be ready to dig deep into its coffers and hope that power clubs like FC Barcelona and Liverpool start to direct their attention elsewhere.