A significant development has occurred regarding Arsenal’s efforts to entice Chelsea center-forward Kai Havertz to The Emirates before the 2023–24 season.
What has changed regarding Kai Havertz and Arsenal?
The Daily Mail reports that the Gunners have submitted a second bid to sign the German international after their initial £50 million offer was rejected by their London rivals.
According to the report, Mikel Arteta’s team put in a bid of £60 million, with a guaranteed £55 million, in an effort to persuade the Blues to let go of the gifted attacker.
It states that they are ready to offer the 24-year-old marksman a contract and are willing to pay him at least £210,000 per week to move across the city.
Following up on this story, the Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano tweeted: “Understand deal could be done around £65m fee. Talks will come next. Havertz has made it clear that he wants to join Arsenal.
A five-year contract is actually “already agreed” with the player, the reporter continued, and the Gunners are hoping to reach an understanding with Chelsea this week.
Where at Arsenal would Havertz fit in?
In contrast to Erling Halaand, who did it for Manchester City, the German maestro is not a prolific number nine who will take over and guide the team to the Premier League championship.
Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli have demonstrated the ability to carry the goal-scoring burden from wide positions; they managed 29 top-flight goals combined last season. However, Havertz could be valuable to Arteta’s team in a false nine role.
Dennis Bergkamp, a Dutch legend who scored 118 goals and provided 95 assists in 416 games for the club, could be compared to the 24-year-old magician in that he could play more as a second striker for Arsenal.
The gifted left-footer was compared to the former Arsenal star by former Blues manager Thomas Tuchel in 2021:
“I see a little bit of a [Dimitar] Berbatov, Robin Van Persie, Dennis Bergkamp type of player. He has good runs, so he can play in the half position, but he also feels liberated from the nine position and creates overload to one side.
Even though Havertz has only scored 32 goals in 139 games for Chelsea, he has shown that he can still be an asset to the team in indirect ways.
The mercurial ace’s pass attempts, pass success rate, and progressive passes per 90 over the previous 365 days place him in the top 9% or higher of players in his position in the Men’s Big Five Leagues and European competitions.
This demonstrates that Havertz excels at moving the ball up the pitch and participates actively in games even when he is scoreless. Because of this, Arteta’s system could benefit from having two goalscoring wingers on either side of the playmaking striker. They would be able to complement his playmaking with direct running and goals.
