Pat Nevin believes Chelsea have lost potentially "one of the greatest players of his generation" in Kai Havertz, who recently sealed a £65million switch to Arsenal.
The Gunners confirmed the arrival of the Germany international towards the end of June in a deal believed to be worth £65million. The Blues were willing to let Havertz leave Stamford Bridge as soon as they learned of his desire to leave after three seasons playing in west London.
The 24-year-old will go down in Chelsea history for scoring some of the biggest goals. Havertz of course scored the winner against Manchester City in the 2021 Champions League final before netting the decisive goal in the FIFA Club World Cup less than 12 months later.
Despite this, there is an overriding feeling of disappointment when it comes to Havertz at Chelsea. The German has bags of potential but never got to unleash it all during his three-year spell at Stamford Bridge.
Under Mikel Arteta with a thriving Arsenal squad, however, perhaps Havertz will finally manage to meet expectations. Nevin, who played for Chelsea for five years in the 1980s, believes the club have lost a generational talent in Havertz.
"Havertz leaving hurts the most," Nevin said to OLBG. "I think Havertz could be one of the greatest players of his generation. He was playing at centre-forward though, and that is not his strongest position. Playing there really took away the strongest parts of his game.
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"Arsenal have sealed an absolute cracker of a deal with Havertz. I’m really confident that Arteta will be able to get the best out of him as well. Arsenal’s team for next season is already looking extremely good. I think replacing Xhaka in midfield as well is a big upgrade.
"Even though he scored the winner for Chelsea in the Club World Cup and the Champions League, we still have not seen the best of him. Arsenal have got a great player. While I think Chelsea may have got the better deal in terms of selling Mount, I think Arsenal have got the better deal by signing Havertz."
Chelsea have already endured a really busy summer and the transfer window has not even been open for a month yet. The Blues have sanctioned the exits of nine first-team players, including Havertz, and they are not done there either.
Christian Pulisic is set to be the 10th player to leave Chelsea with the American due in Milan to complete a move to AC. He is set to join a whole host of players who have left, including Edouard Mendy, who completed a move to Al Ahli last month.
Mendy, who was Chelsea's first-choice goalkeeper for two seasons, lost his place in the side last season after a terrible start to the campaign. Kepa Arrizabalaga took his place in the starting line-up and had a decent season but not enough to convince the club that he will be their first-choice goalkeeper in the long run.
football.london understands a new goalkeeper is high on the agenda at Stamford Bridge this summer. The likes of Andre Onana and Mike Maignan have been looked at. Also, Valencia shot-stopper Giorgi Mamardashvili has been looked at in recent months by the club and has by all accounts impressed scouts.
However, Nevin does not believe Kepa is the problem in the Chelsea squad. The former Blues winger is a big fan of the Spanish shot-stopper.
"I really like Kepa," Nevin explained. "Mendy going and Kepa staying is something that I am happy with. If you have a look at the table from last year, even though Chelsea had a really poor season, they really did not concede too many goals. A lot of that may have been down to Thiago Silva, but Kepa also made some fabulous saves. Kepa is not one of Chelsea’s biggest problems at all.
"Kepa is maturing into Chelsea’s goalkeeper and he has Thiago Silva right in front of him. They will really need that experience, mixed in with Badiashile and Colwill. I therefore think there are definitely more important things that will need fixing before Kepa."
