Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich tipped to step in and force through next transfer deal

Chelsea will not sit and play poker with Bayer Leverkusen over Kai Havertz for too much longer as former manager Avram Grant has tipped owner Roman Abramovich to step in to move the deal along.

Chief transfer negotiator Marina Granovskaia has been tasked with rebuilding the squad this summer.

However, she is not willing to part with more than £70million for Leverkusen midfielder Havertz.

The Bundesliga side value their 21-year-old sensation at £90m and are not willing to budge from that stance.

Ex-Chelsea boss Grant feels the stand-off will not last much longer if Abramovich really wants the deal to go through.

"Abramovich didn't have a problem with money before! When he wants something, he buys it," he told Stats Perform News.

"He doesn't do things to save money. Whether they have more or less money, I don't think it's important.

"What I think is important is that they started to use the academy. They spent so much money on it and they didn't give anyone a chance [before]. My policy at Chelsea was that we wanted one third of the squad as under-21 players, because you cannot invest a lot into the academy and not give them a chance.

"Now, not as a policy, they gave them a chance, and Frank has done a great job. Michael Emenalo, a director, was always complaining that we invested a lot of money in them [academy players] but we don't give them a chance.

"When you have a good young player, they can develop a lot and there are a lot of good talents at Chelsea, and we're in a good phase for the coming years.

"With a good signing they can compete with Liverpool or Man City. [Havertz] has the quality. We need to wait and see [if he's the one to bridge the gap]."

Chelsea have already shelled out over £80m on Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner from Ajax and RB Leipzig, respectively.

And Grant feels Frank Lampard would have done his due diligence on the duo before sanctioning the transfer.

"On paper they look like good signings and that they can make the team stronger, but we need to wait and see," Grant added.

"We've seen years ago, Tottenham bought a lot of players but they bought too much and many didn't perform well - eventually Harry Redknapp saved them and did a very good job.

"I think you need to be careful when you sign a player, whether they will be good for the squad, but I'm sure they've checked this. It's not only about quality."

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