Kai Havertz has finally found his feet at Arsenal, but it may not bode well for their £27m signing. He needs to keep it up.
Transfer
Many people wondered who would replace the Swiss midfielder Granit Xhaka. When he unexpectedly departed the Gunners following his greatest season ever.
Would Declan Rice be taking on a more challenging role? Would Oleksandr Zinchenko be moved back into a more key role, or would Martin Odegaard take up a new job?
Well, for all those questions, the answer was no. Mikel Arteta thought of something else. That was to pay Havertz, a guy who had pretended to be dishonest while wearing a Chelsea jersey, £65 million.
Even though the German scored the game-winning goal in the Champions League final. His time in west London was not entirely successful, as many at Stamford Bridge found it difficult to determine where the player was most effective.
Different times
Perhaps up until this point, it hasn’t really worked out for the guy in England who showed so much promise at Leverkusen.
Even if they later paid £100 million on Rice, the amount of money spent on the Germany international throughout the summer was outrageous.
But here was a guy who, in 139 games, had only managed to score 32 goals and dish out 15 assists for his prior employers.
That was very different from his time in Germany, when the now-25-year-old scored 20 goals in a single season for Leverkusen.
You may start to understand why Arteta imagined Havertz in the left-sided number eight position that Xhaka excelled in based on that figure.
But up until last Sunday, his lone goal for the team had come from close range. Maybe a silly penalty, as Odegaard gave him the ball during an away win against Bournemouth.
Havertz is back
That being said, the offensive midfielder has really clicked since the international break. Rejuvenated by a stint at left-back for Germany. Juan Nagelsmann appears to have brought life back to Arsenal’s multimillionaire acquisition.
In the last moments of the match against Brentford, Havertz was the player that made an appearance at the back post. coming home after a superb cross of Bukayo Saka.
Then, in the 6-0 thumping of Lens in the middle of the week, it was he who opened the score. He entered the penalty box late, Xhaka-style, and slipped past the defenders to head in Gabriel Jesus’ cushioned-headed pass.
Havertz appears to have made it to the Emirates Stadium at last.
