One of his last appearances for Bayer Leverkusen before making his summer move to Chelsea last year was in the final of the DFB Pokal, the German equivalent of the FA Cup.

While the 21-year-old admits he was far from an expert on the FA Cup before getting his first experience of the world’s oldest club competition this season, the 21-year-old fully understands the importance it holds in the hearts of English football fans.

‘I know it’s a very big competition here in England,’ he said. ‘It’s a funny story actually, one year ago, there was a Netflix series, The English Game, and I used to watch it with my father together. In the past I watched some FA Cup games too.’

In last season’s German cup final, Havertz’s late penalty proved to be in vain as Leverkusen were defeated 4-2 by Bayern Munich behind closed doors in the capital Berlin’s historic football venue, but it remains a positive memory.

‘It’s the same in Germany, it’s a very big competition. It was a little bit unlucky because it was the first year without fans. Normally the atmosphere is amazing with 80,000 people, you play in the Olympiastadion.

‘We got to the final, we lost against Bayern but it was a very good experience for us. It was a very big game and as a footballer you like to play these games. It was a big achievement to get as far as we did.’

That memory of falling at the last hurdle, combined with his move to a club with constant ambitions of lifting silverware, means Havertz has no shortage of motivation as we continue this season’s FA Cup campaign when we host Sheffield United in the quarter-finals.

‘It’s a big ambition of mine to win trophies at Chelsea,’ he added. ‘When you play for Chelsea you always want to win trophies. We are in a very good position but there is a long way in front of us.

‘We have to go into every game like it’s a final. There’s no second chance, we have to win this game to get through to the next round. Hopefully we have a good day on Sunday and we get through to the next round.’