Reason why Kai Havertz deserves patience as these 4 top players took their time to adapt

Havertz has 4 goals and 4 assists in all competitions since he arrived but there's no reason to believe those numbers won't go up.

Kai Havertz arrived at Chelsea as one of Europe's most highly-rated youngsters. The German had broken out at Bayer Leverkusen and quickly become one of the Bundesliga's biggest talents. However, he has been unable to produce the same numbers for Chelsea so far.

Not every player gels immediately into a new team. When you take into account moving countries, learning new languages, changing positions and style of football, not to mention a pandemic, it's easy to understand why the adaptation process may take time.

So here are a few examples of players who struggled early but then blossomed into exactly what the fans wanted them to be:

Joao Felix

Atletico signed promising Joao Felix from Benfica for £113m, the fourth-highest sum paid in football history. The attacker only managed 6 league goals all season and fans branded him a flop.

Felix has already turned it around this season, scoring 8 goals in 18 games for the club so far and really coming into his own at the club.

Kevin De Bruyne

Arguably the best player in the Premier League, De Bruyne is an excellent example of allowing players time and opportunity to go.

Even after Chelsea let him go and he came back to the league with Man City, De Bruyne struggled to adapt in his first season.

Since then, he has become indispensable, helping City to multiple league titles and equalling the Premier League assist record.

Luka Modric

Modric was named the worst signing of the season in a poll by newspaper Marca, earning 32.2% of the votes his first year at Real Madrid.

He went on to win 4 Champions Leagues and 2 La Liga titles with the Spanish giants while also bagging himself the Ballon d'Or.

Didier Drogba

Some Chelsea fans may not remember this now but Drogba's first season at the club was marred by injury. The striker considered leaving the club and was thought to have not lived up to expectations.

Of course, he went on to become one of the most storied players in the history of the club, delivering nearly every trophy possible and scoring in what felt like every final.