Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has dropped a clear hint over the role of Kai Havertz in the team by claiming the 24-year-old will play in midfield. It comes after the Germany international officially made his move to the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday in a £65million switch from Chelsea.
Havertz spent three years at Stamford Bridge, where his inconsistency perhaps best summed up his time in blue, scoring the Champions League winning goal in Porto one week and struggling in front of goal the next. As a result, the move comes with huge risk and reward for the Gunners.
“It's super exciting for me to be joining this amazing club and to be part of the Arsenal family," the former Chelsea man said on his arrival. "This club has such a big history, and I hope we can achieve lots of things. The mentality in the Arsenal squad is very high and you can feel that. That was one of the reasons why it has been so hard to play against Arsenal recently.
“The aim is to win trophies and I’m going to give everything to do that for the supporters and everyone at the club. I'm now looking forward to meeting all the players and the staff when we come back for pre-season.”
The move has raised plenty of eyebrows though, given that many aren't too certain exactly where Havertz may fit into the team this season. At Chelsea, he was played in various positions, from central striker to on the flanks and even as a number ten, but none seemed a natural fit.
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With Arsenal, the position may be slightly different, dropping back even deeper to the central ranks as Arteta told the official club website: "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.
“We welcome Kai and his family to Arsenal Football Club and we are all excited to start working with him when we start pre-season training soon.”
The positional switch could see Havertz line up in midfield alongside Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice, with the latter edging closer to a move to the Emirates Stadium. A deal in principle is claimed to be agreed at £105million for the West Ham captain, with a medical approved.
The trio could end up being the ideal partnership for an Arsenal side looking to go one step further and challenge for the league title next season.
