Is it time to admit that Arteta was right about Havertz? by AA
Only a soothsayer would have predicted that Kai Havertz would become a fan favorite after he joined in the summer.
The Germany international was largely underwhelming during his stay at Stamford Bridge, notching 32 goals and 15 assists in 139 appearances.
Thus, it wasn’t surprising to see pundits criticize why he was bought, one of such to do so was Shaka Hislop who told ESPN FC after our win over Nottingham Forest last August and revealed in a previous article by Just Arsenal: “As anticipated, I’m really not sure what Kai Havertz offers Arsenal in all honesty,”
“And he stuck with him for the entire game. I can’t think of a single thing that Kai Havertz did of note, never mind making Arsenal better, nothing you can talk about.”
“If I’m Arteta, I’m trying to figure out what to do with Havertz because it didn’t make sense to me.”
However, he is beginning to prove critics wrong and show the reason why we bought him, most particularly in recent weeks, scoring four goals in the last four Premier League games.
The 24-year-old scored the winning goal as we recorded our eighth consecutive Premier League victory against Brentford on Saturday at the Emirates.
He has eight league goals, with Bukayo Saka only boasting of more, has 11-goal involvements which is the third highest, and has won us nine points this term, a tally bettered only by fellow summer arrival, Declan Rice.
There is no doubt that the German native is becoming a vital player for the Gunners despite his earlier struggles in the first couple of months at the club.
Arteta envisioned that he would be a good fit in the midfield which was what the boss told the club’s website after the signing of the former Chelsea forward.
“Kai is a player of top quality. He has great versatility and is an intelligent player. He will bring a huge amount of extra strength to our midfield and variety to our play.”
However, Havertz has found more joy playing as a False nine which was where he thrived at Bayer Leverkusen before moving to Chelsea in the summer of 2020.
What impressed me the most is that he contributes defensively as much as he does in the final third, makes 0.5 interceptions and clearance per game, the most of any of the club’s forward’s this term in the Premier League, per whoscored.com.
Arteta couldn’t hide his emotions when asked about whether the Bayer Leverkusen product had now justified his price tag after the victory over Brentford.
“I’m so happy. If somebody told me after the first two or three months that the whole stadium would be singing his song with that passion, with that feeling, with that chemistry, I would have found it hard to believe.”
“That’s what happens to good people. He’s an exceptional player. When he starts to score goals like this and everything starts to flow, people feel more connected with him.”
“They see his work rate, they see his intelligence, they see how he plays for the team and how he’s contributing. It’s impossible not to love him.”
Undoubtedly, the boss has now been proven right about sanctioning a deal for Havertz and as a result should be trusted with future recruitment.
Long live King Kai, Long live Arsenal!
Abdulkareem Abdulhamid
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He’s been so impressive lately and am happy for him. I believe It’s not about proving people wrong, but more about fulfilling He’s potential, he’s always been very talented. There’s still a long way to go for him, he’s still not ruthless enough in front of goal.
Havertz’s movement is so clever and his work rate is second to none You need to be highly intelligent to be able to play three separate roles He’s not a striker but he does look like he understands a striker’s movement when he plays furthest forward Now that his confidence is on the ascendancy I enjoy watching Havertz
For 65 million I would expect 8 goals as a bare minimum
For 65 million I expect that player should be the difference in the big games which I’m not sure he is
I think it’s more that he’s not terrible
Not being terrible doesn’t justify 65 million
What he costs is irrelevant to us fans as long as a player makes a positive impact, which he is. He’s gained us points and been a mainstay in a team that sits top with 10 to play. I’ll take it
Well no because that money could have been used to get a player with a bigger impact then 8 goals
the game of football is more than one solitary stat ‘goals scored’ or most players would failures
and the game Havertz plays is as much about what he does out of possession as what he does when we are in possession
I look back to the recent victory over Liverpool restricting them to xG 0.36 (or near) which is their lowest by miles – Havertz with Odegaard high press box midfield was key to that
and we did it to Man C at home too, restricting them to xG 0.43
those results are transformational in terms Arsenal performance against elite team, compared to last season where we got slaughtered 3 times by Man C
granted it does take a deeper knowledge and appreciation of the team game football than simple ‘goals scored’, or should i say ‘simple’ goals scored!
And I also like that dirty part of him doing elbowing and soft falls and escaping red card. In premier league, the team wont be balanced by having 11 gentlemen on the pitch. There should be somebody with that physicality and cunning mind who can influence mind games and Havertz seem to fit that bill at present. Though I still think he has to get little more control over himself in that matter and ensure not committing major mistakes to cost us points.
He is now known as Sly Havertz, we have needed a player of the dark arts and we have one, he is getting better and better, but there are still fans who still won’t accept him
You mean may be we could have got another Pepe. Money can’t always buy you a success. We could have bought more high profile players for that price but the question is could that player have been able to fit and integrated in our squad positively. You can see what’s happening to chelsea and manu. Havertz was actually bought for central midfield role so if you think 8 goals is not enough for 65 mil then how many goals has 105 mil Rice scored. It was his versatility that we could use him in forward position when our other forwards were struggling and changed the tide our attack. May be he would again revert to midfielding role and his goal contribution may dry up again. So, let’s consider us fortunate this time around that most of our transfers are working effectively and hat’s off to Arteta for seeing and believing things which most of us couldn’t even imagine. I am quite sure now Chelsea wont be able to buy back Havertz in much higher price than what we paid for him. I won’t mind any price as long as our team is showing progress and bringing positive results.
We’re still counting, 10 games to go……his done well, so far so good.
Dan, have you seen in the market that players prices are generally overrated. DRice is playing well but on a good day he shouldn’t cost 100m same with Cancelaedo of Chelsea. The market is generally inflated. Kai and Mount were sold at Chelsea but Kai is the better of the lots in performance. Let’s give him due credit He gave Arsenal 6 points against Brentford H&A game.
100% in agreement. Fans sing his name to encourage him, not because he is moving mountains.
I think he already has started the task of moving the mountain by scoring late goals against Brentford twice among other crucial contributions. And believe me had he performed that bad fans would not sing to encourage him but they would sing to humiliate him as fans don’t have that patience and they sing what they truly feel. Hope the mountain would have been moved come may by lifting the title, but it would require a collective effort and Havertz or any other player can’t do it all alone.
Danny boy, the best scorer in EPL ever. För the price of nuthin’. Very impressive.
Negative .. for almost one year and half . I know what you function here.. post negative comment and waiting for the respond.. that how it works. You admin
Err excuse me. There is only one admin.
RIP Admin Martin then? 😜
Only I moderate the comments
Dont worry PAT!!
All bright fans KNOW that you ARE the actual boss, as all regulars on JA are only too well aware.
He is coming into his own now, his name got to be one of the first name on the team sheet.
With four in a row, how can sixty million goes down the drain when he is scoring again and again.
Brilliant player! Yet to see his whole package of abilities though, more in his locker to come. COYG!!!
He plays well now but I have yet to see a 65M player performance from him nor a performance that should be expected from the highest at a giant club like Arsenal.
At the time people criticized his signing they were absolutely right because it was underwhelming.
God forbid now that he is doing what he was brought to do, and being paid more than required for it, we have to hail the king!
The Havertz articles have always looked like PR in my eyes.
*performance that should be expected from the highest paid player*
That’s the wage standards the likes of Chelsea have set, we can’t expect him to lower his wage when coming to us. “The flop” according to you guys have started fulfilling his potential despite giving him no chance in the first place, The qualified professional in Mikel has identified his preferred players, it’s only up to us to get behind all of them until it’s obvious we should no longer do so, not some hasty conclusions out of pure ignorance!
“That’s the wage standards the likes of Chelsea have set, we can’t expect him to lower his wage when coming to us.”
He was on 150k at Chelsea and 280k at Arsenal what wage standards are you talking about? This defending Arteta at all cost makes you come out with laughable statements like that. Next time reflect on yourself before accusing others of pure ignorance.
He has played well in how many games out of 37 he has played this season? 5? 6? 7? Who is making hasty conclusions here?
SMH and a long sigh to boot!
No son, He was on same wage as he is currently earning with us NOT “150k”. Only behind Lukaku and Sterling, so yeah, they alongside City,PSG,Madrid,United and Barcelona until reality dawns on them. Guys like yourself are the ones who need to reflect on yourselves because demanding instant impact in a very organized playing system such as our’s is of the highest degree of ignorance, as far as the club’s project is concerned. Everything in our system needs time.
All sources I search says he was on 150k. Why don’t you help me with that? What source says he was on 280k at Chelsea?
Name your sources!
I was the one who asked you that! So I take it that you don’t have one!
First link I looked at says £150k a week. I’ll post it below since admins take a while to allow posts with links.
Site is Bolavip.com
https://bolavip.com/en/soccer/kai-havertz-chelsea-salary-per-hour-day-week-month-year-20221103-0024.html
The Athletic is a far reliable source.
I don’t think you are living in a present world. Actually 65 mil is not that high price in current transfer market as you guys have been exaggerating. Toney priced at 100 mil, Ferguson at 100 mil, Watkins 80 mil and so so on. You can’t buy top level player from premier league less than 50 mil. What about 65 mil for cucurella and plethora of other players chelsea has bought. What about 60mil for mason mount, 70 mil for casemiro? 55 mil for matheus nunez. Even bottom half team are spending more that 30-40 mil for a player. Bringing costly players from other lower league is always risky sometime it can be masterstroke or sometimes disaster like antony, Mudryk. Chelsea thought Havertz was expendable as whole team was not performing and thats why we got him for fairly reasonable price. He had tatlent and mentality but couldn’t fit in Chelsea system and was eagle eyed by Arsenal scouts and now his foothold is getting stronger and stronger by each passing days much like odegard .
I have no problem with you believing all that.
I don’t!
We could’ve bought better. I have seen nothing yet to convince me otherwise.
HH, I thought as you do until quite recently, when to ME it became obvious simply from his perfs, regularly too, that I had hastily misjudged him.
Only a proper stubborn fool refuses to change his or her mind when regular evidence forces them to admit their mistake .
The evidence that is, AND the sheer character of honour and being truthful, to admit you were wrong.
Of course, if you have genuinely NOT SEEN, for whatever reason, what many such as I HAVE seen and admitted our MISTAKE IN JUDGEMENT, then perhaps , just perhaps, you have the lesser problem of poor perception, which is a lesser problem than simply not having the GUTS and honour to admit you were wrong all along.
He’s our 2nd top goalscorer in the league behind Saka how is that PR? Anthony, Sancho, Pogba, DI Maria, Hojilund, KDB, Grealish, Gvardiol, Van Dijk, Nunez, Mudryk, Lukaku, Enzo, Caicedo, Fofana etc. all cost more.
What does he have to do he is outscoring everyone bar Saka in the team based on your reflection should we sell Martinelli? Is that PR?
You were never right you jumped on a bandwagon that was popular at the time and now have a sunken cost fallacy where you don’t want to admit you were wrong, due to the amount you’ve invested stating the opposite.
Rice who cost more and has justified every penny does not have the weekly articles why? Because he doesn’t need them, his work speak for him.
If it were simply praising players then it should have been him having weekly articles even more so considering he is player of the season contender.
So yes it’s pure PR, how many weekly articles do we have apologizing for him? And when he has few good run of games it’s “hail king Havertz?”
Even Mbappe does not get such praise lol!
It’s not about being proven right or wrong. He hasn’t lived up to his price and highest paid tags. Not even close, yet!
.
He’s played great recently
I still disagree with his signing in the summer . I think we would have been better off to sign a more prolific goal scorer with the money
He’s playing in his best position, a false 9, and I am glad to see it. Arteta is playing to his strengths and being rewarded for it.
Kai is not an 8 in the midfield, he simply doesn’t produce on a level that we are seeing when he plays as a false 9.
Great news for Kai, great news for our club, but bad news for Jesus. Kai is positioning himself very well and scoring goals/assists, exactly what Jesus struggles to do.
Jesus is better on the wing, and can rotate with Saka and Havertz at some point. Hopefully Kai’s run of games will continue and Jesus may have to adjust to being mostly a rotation/sub player as long as our success continues.
His big problem, like Jesus, he isn’t a striker and he isn’t a good finisher.
So all those pundits and journalist that say he is a good finisher were wrong? I feel like its more of confidence l=right now he seem to have gotten his confidence back. But i agree that he is not a striker.
you are right, he isn’t a striker, but was not bought to be striker, his contribution is much more than just striker
key to beating Liverpool in the league, and Man C before that, was our brilliant high press box midfield which Havertz and Odegaard led – a striker can’t do that, and we saw what happed last season when we went toe-to-toe shoot out, Man C destroyed us 3 times and we were not even close
a striker instead of Havertz we would probably be out of the title race as not beating Man C and Liverpool at their own game
I believe he is what can be called a raumdeuter just like Thomas Muller, But at Leverkusen he played as 10,
@Durand, I dont think it is bad news to Jesus. Jesus can adjust to any position and was never a out and out striker in the first place. That said, Jesus will most likely rotate with Saka.
Bad news for Jesus because he finds himself in the exact same position he was at City; 2nd choice striker and 2nd choice winger.
He escaped to Arsenal to be starting striker, now he doesn’t beat out Havertz or Saka. I don’t think he will be content playing backup, at least he wasn’t at City in spite of winning titles.
If we win a big trophy this season,he is worth every penny. If we dont, and he hasn’t produced, when it matters, questions will be asked. He has performed well, the last few games. He has to keep it up. 65 mil at the moment was still too much. If it helps us win one of the big ones, it was a bargain.
Absolutely right Reggie with the proviso that if we don’t win something this year then questions should also be asked about Arteta and the rest of the squad and not just Havertz.
SORRY SUE, BUT I CANNOT GO ALONG WITH THAT.
To my mind it is way beyond obvious that we have a top top level manager in MA. But so do City and Liverpool and only ONE of those THREE TOP LEVEL MANAGERS CAN WIN THIS SEASONS TITLE.
Two will therefore fail but NOT A SINGLE ONE of those three will still be anything but top ,top class.
Exactly WHAT “questions” then would you suggest we ask, IF he fails to win the Prem or CL.
Personally, were I in KSE’s boots, I would be urgently offering him a tasty long term new contract and I WOULD BE DOING IT AS SOON AS THIS SEASON ENDS.
Well said. The way we lose points against Newcastle, westham, aston villa and fulham need not to mention. Success is not always in our hands. But to try and display best football performance is in our hands. Our team is not without flaws as we still are less creative in tight spaces and our movements are slow and more predictable in tight games which is reason we have lost quite a few matches. But overall I think we have been best team in England this season but being best may not be enough for title as our chasing pack are also among the best and to become the best of the best everything should go in their favor. We have to appreciate our team for what they have been doing this season.
Definitely right Sue. With all the money spent and the squad assembled, big teams win big trophies. Otherwise if accountability doesn’t matter, why invest?
We invested and invested wisely thats why we are here having discussion about premier league tittle or champions league otherwise we would here be discussing about getting into europa conference league or 4th place finish in the league at most. Just imagine how scary is the fact that so many teams behind us are either spending close to what we are spending or even surpassing our expenditure. We can just lag behind the lot in a blink of an eye if we take things for granted. The focus, motivation, and of course investment should be maintained to keep the pace with pacesetters.
@SueP I usually agree with your posts but not this time.
Look at the players still to be moved on or otherwise resolved in a permanent way:
Cedric, Lokonga, Tierney, Tavares, Partey, Alencar, Marquinhos, Jorge Luiz Frello Filho, Ramsdale.
I probably missed some – even ESR, Nelson I remember as I type.
Arsenal rebuild still has some way to go. I imagine Eddie Howe last season saying to the NUFC Board “We over-performed, don’t expect the same next season” – and he was right.
Same is true in Arsenal. Overperforming at this stage of the project (even for 2 years) does not justify excessive expectations of some fans.
They should be grateful to see their club competing for trophies imho.
Correct me if I’m wrong but he was bought as an attacking player? If so, his goal and assist tally is still poor – 8 goals and 3 assists in 27 EPL games is not exactly great. He actually cost the club £65m plus an annual salary of £14.5m + for 5 years, personally I don’t think he justifies that level of investment. He has never been a prolific scorer or assister, in 91 EPL games for Chelsea he scored 19 times with 7 assists. Sorry I’m still not convinced, hopefully he’ll prove me wrong and start banging in the goals!!
Definitely, a lot more needed and over a whole season. Not a few selective games. That was one of the gripes at Chelsea.
The issue is u guys don’t want to see beyond his goal contributions but there is more to his performance than that, talking of duels won, area covered and other defensive tasks that he has done brilliantly. He is not bought as a striker his role is still the 8 position like that of xhaka but more offensive minded. As for his wage, well, that’s the reality of the football world and it’s not even confirmed as it’s undisclosed by the club so the figure is speculated. Apart from that, there are numbers of players earning more than him and still mediocre. What matters is that he’s improving with time and he still has scope for further developments…
He’s our 2nd scorer behind Saka and has the highest points per game involvement of any player this year. There is no statistical argument against Havertz that way just an eye test ive said he’s bad all season he must be bad even after he has scored 4 games in a row. It’s I can’t be wrong mentality some have. Lee Gunner on YouTube is the epitome of this.
Pay them no mind Chronicle it’s the best way.
I see a bit of Giroud in Kai. He puts in a lot of effort, but he’s not a game changer and can’t single-handedly win you games. He relies on the team rather than the team relying on him. Although he has improved, his price and wages still seem unjustified. It’s concerning that it took Arteta so long to find a suitable role for him, raising questions about the initial plan. Overall, I hope he can reach the level he had at Leverkusen. When he does, I’ll sing his name out of pride and joy, not sympathy.
First of all Havertz was successful at BL as a number 10 ,not as a false 9. In my opinion 10 is his best position but with Odegaard playing this role Arteta has been obliged to try him elsewhere.I very much doubt if he will ever be effective as a central midfielder, but as a false 9 he creates problems by his intelligent running off the ball and his ability to link up with others.With him as a false 9 we effectively have an additional attacking midfielder and the need to play inverted full backs is no longer essential, as demonstrated by the way Kwior is being used as a conventional/defensive left back.I would not have bought Havertz and would have preferred a like for like replacement for Xhaka.That said, I have always regarded him as a skilful intelligent player and I am delighted he is making a real impression after a slow start.While he is not a natural finisher he does find spaces in the final third and I don’t care who actually puts the ball in the net, as we win.Personally I find his reported salary, outrageous, and this irks me more than the actual transfer fee which is not excessive given his international pedigree.Let’s hope he continues to do the business.
Still annoyed about the Thomas Frank nonsense. Is not pulling back / pushing over a player in the penalty area a yellow card and a penalty? How many players would he have had left on the pitch and how many goals down would he be, if there had been proper refereeing? He got of a lot lighter than he shouldve, had Paul Tierney not been asleep most of the game, and the tactic to just pull down every opposition player in your area should spell instant suicide for any team.
I always wonder why our fans judge a player on what he cost the club?
I can understand the outrage at his reported salary, but that’s the way of football today.
Havertz was being ostracised before he’d even signed for the club and by fans who tell everyone to support the manager and his players!!
I watch what a player does on the pitch and how his team mates react with him.
He’s getting better with every game, although he still needs to be sharper in front of goal.
Who really cares if he cost £60,000,000 plus?
Who really cares if he “looks like a £60,000,000 player?
Who really cares if he’s scoring goals and giving assists?
We’re top of the PL and no club even gets into the PL if they are carrying players.
Wiise post KEN. Though on your final line only, I put forward the names of Burnley and Sheff Utd as evidence of WHY I differ on that last line.
I don’t believe they are carrying players Jon – their players aren’t up to the standard of PL players – hence, Havertz is playing for a club that’s top of the PL and those clubs you mentioned have a lower level of player.
That’s how I see it anyway.
Great post Ken. Only ever got annoyed with you in the past because I know you for posts like this and I felt on the Arteta issue you were letting other factors cloud your judgment. I always had and still do have the utmost respect for your comments and support of the team we all love at the end of the day.
Specifically, your point about Havertz being targeted on day 1 has always been my issue. I didn’t understand the signing myself but I humbled myself and asked what am I not seeing regardless I’ll give him time because he’s Arsenal now (not a Chelsea reject.) Why that isn’t the norm is beyond me honestly.
It’s easy to be negative, especially on football stats say you’re going to be right a lot of the time if you argue negatively whether that’s players or the 7 into 4 top 4 or the 1 out of 7 titles.
Where commentary should be measured as a fan is both in accuracy (means not always predicting it) when things actually go right which is rarer and far harder to predict and just general support because ultimately no matter how much we debate that is all we do and impact outside our support of the team.
Angus, as I was with Havertz, so I am with MA and any other player signed by out club.
I have never said that I wanted Mikel out, all I wanted was for him to be judged in exactly the same way that Unai and Arsene were.
I also back every player at The Arsenal, although I do put forward my thoughts regarding their ability. When Nketiah plays, I chant the same way that I would if it was Rice, Saka, Odegaard or Martinelli – no difference for me, if they wear the shirt, they get my 100% support, rightly or wrongly.
If The Arsenal sign Mudryk, I would question why, but he would have the same support.
Just cannot understand why fans belittle our players day in and day out.
Havertz and Arteta are proving so many of us wrong and I couldn’t be happier!!
I admitted just yesterday ,on another JA thread , that I HAVE BEEN WRONG ABOUT HAVERTZ and I misjudged him far too hastily
I added that though we are all fallible humans ,only fools stubbornly refuse to change their mind , once overwhelming evidence that they have been wrong all along emerges. I am not a fool and therefore HAVE changed my mind, based on that overwhelming evidence I refer too.
I would add this: Havertz scored very few goals and assists in three full years at Chelsea.
Now, he has ALREADY equalled his best season’s tally for goals.
The intelligent part of me says that EXCELLENT COACHING this season, MUST have ben a key factor in his obvious and startling improvement from when he first came and from his time at Chelsea.
I am NOW among his firmest fans!
AND AMONG MA’s TOO!
Fair play Jon, I’d suggest taking a beat in the future before going in on equally fallible professional footballers.
Let things play out, you were a quick adopter of Arteta (conversely your quick adoption at least on this site led to many opposing Arteta unfairly based upon their judgment of your Wenger stand which wasn’t exclusively yours, and wanting to right correctly overall that wrong… there are variant caveats and that is a long conversation which I’d suggest we don’t get into fully regardless.)
Love your passion and for all your faults you’ve never embarrassed yourself universesly as I do with seeming regulatory so there is that!
When being negative it’s easy and easy to be proven right so you need to be doubly sure you are right otherwise it’s a negative even if right due to the impact on us as supporters as a whole and this is entirely logical because the only way we impact the team is through support positively however limited that is it is a real thing, it’s why Anfield on a European night is a thing.
In the case of Havertz, there was no way you could be right at the moment because time hadn’t elapsed yet. I don’t know maybe this is an absolutely worthless diatribe on my part that makes no sense and just adds to my embarrassing record but hopefully not. Hopefully, it makes sense.
Are some of these commenters ignoring the fact that KH is still only 24 yrs old and by no means the finish article, thus still malleable, and also young players who cost big money rarely pays off their price tag in one season. Some young players if they are talented enough, altough they are bought for what they can offer immediately, are more often looked at for what they can offer long term over the course of their development. To KH credit, he is starting to produce for us, lets just applaud it, and long may it continue.
That is a fair point actually. 👍
Kai Havertz is brilliantly versatile, able to excel in three positions – he’s our very own Raumdeuter! The Emirates in full voice is a joy to hear.
In his final season with Leverkusen, Havertz dazzled with 18 goals and 9 assists over 3797 minutes, making waves as one of Germany’s most exciting talents at just 20. So, what changed?
Enter Chelsea! Now it’s their loss, our gain, and that £65M contract fee will be smartly amortised every year. Mikel saw this potential, and with top-notch coaching and positional awareness, we’re nurturing Havertz’s intelligence to full bloom… Have it!! and Vamos!
I’m hoping Kai continues to make a significant impact as we approach the business end of the season! By providing those crucial goals as a dynamic False 9 or in other creative ways, he’s integrating into our Arsenal machine and performing. COYG!
£65m is no longer a huge sum
i think 19th most expensive on the Premier League list, about the same Hojlund
some big name, big price tag dud strikers in that list too
as pointed out Havertz is not striker and was not bought as one
19th out of how many? You should point that out to have a proper context.
If it’s 19th out of 20 or 30 then it’s not a huge sum but if it’s 19th out of a 100 or thousand it’s still a huge sum.
19th most expensive PL transfer, equal 19th with Holjund about £1k behind at 21st
remembering too PL transfer inflation is at an all time high, at least 3 +£100m transfers last summer, so a player that might have cost £50m just 3 seasons ago could be twice as expensive now
that is also part of the context
if that trend continues, and no reason to think it won’t with more and more TV money, then very quickly £65m becomes a bog standard transfer, our vastly experienced 24 year old German accomplished in multiple position could well be a snip
I can’t say that I’m at all bothered with Kai’s early season output, as long as he continues with this excellent run of goal scoring and general play form.
How much can Arsenal sell Kai today????????
I really wouldn’t know…or care!
Kai was obviously bought for a hefty price, but his role in the team is varied. It has helped us to become more unpredictable, make changes within the match without making substitution. His varied roles have obviously benefited us overall. He is an all-round player, and such players are a rare breed. I was first not convinced about him, but he has contributed really well, and especially in big matches.
Agreed Havertz is playing well and scoring and I am happy for him. However, if the same amount of opportunities are also given to ESR, wont he also perform well. Hope Arteta uses ESR more often, now that ER is fully fit.
that is a good question and I don’t know what the answer is. Based on rotation I think that the decision has been made though.
It may well be that lack of opportunity has really hurt ESR, but maybe he has plateaued. We don’t see the detail in training so we don’t really know.
I would really love to see him having a big role with us but I just don’t think that it will happen (rightly or wrongly).
Part of getting us back into contention had to be a much more ruthless approach to the squad – we really drifted for a long time. Sadly that will include some well-liked (by me at least) players – ESR, Eddie, Ramsdale fall into that group.
We are a fickle bunch, as Arsenal supporters, but I have to give Arteta props for what he has done. I am sure that he has a dumb decision in him (as even the masters do) but we are so much better than before.
But ESR is never fit for long. Comparing apples and pears.
Havertz is really starting to move the value needle based on the last 10 weeks.
Right now, I think that he is still a bit of a luxury when comparing costs and results, but the two lines are rapidly coming together.
He keeps playing the way he has been of late then he will be good value by year’s end.
Guess that is a long-winded way to say that I was quite wrong 🙂
I believe Havertz was bought to replace Xhaka in midfield.
This is where he had his problems.
Since Arteta moved him up front as a false 9, and used Jorginho in midfield, Havertz has found a role that suits him.
My question to Arteta would be, what will he do when Jesus is fully fit.
I hope he does not move Havertz back into midfield!!!