Kai Havertz- An Analysis Into His Arsenal Career So Far And Why He Has Struggled

Its fair to say that Kai Havertz has not had the greatest of starts to his Arsenal career, but is that his fault? When the news emerged in the summer that Arsenal were in advanced negotiations with Chelsea over the signing of Kai Havertz, many Arsenal fans would have been scratching their heads as to where he was going to fit in into Mikel Arteta’s system. Was he going to play as a centre forward as he did in his time at Chelsea, or was he going to be reverted back to his old number 10 position that he used to play in Germany for Bayer Leverkusen? It turns out that the answer is in fact both of these things. The reason why Mikel Arteta is such a big fan of Havertz is because of his versatile ability to play in multiple positions, but this ability has led to a confusing and drowsy start to his time in North London.

During pre-season, Havertz was made to play in the number 8 position that had recently been vacated by Granit Xhaka, who moved to Bayer Leverkusen in July. His outings during the pre-season tour were nothing boast about but were also nothing to complain about either. He scored 2 goals in pre-season, 1 against the MLS All-Star team and one in a frantic game against Barcelona. This led many to believe that he had indeed been brought in to be the new number 8, but this raises the question, why did Mikel Arteta go for Havertz when he could have gone for an established number 8?The number 8 position at Arsenal has been a problem since Arteta joined the club in 2019, and he has yet to find a player that fulfills the duties necessary to compete for titles. Arteta’s ability to identify an established number 8 has also been something to be questioned in recent years, as there have been many players brought in to try and play this role but bar Granit Xhaka who was already in the squad when Arteta joined, none of them have performed at the level that is required. Arteta has signed the likes of Sambi Lokonga, Fabio Viera and now Havertz for that number 8 role, but as of right now none of them have raised the roof at the Emirates. Sambi Lokonga seems to be considered as a lost cause for Arteta, this being proved by him sending Lokonga out on loan for the 2nd season in a row, this time to Premier League newcomers Luton Town. Fabio Viera’s first season in England was a quiet one, having only made the starting 11 three times, scoring 1 goal against Brentford. Viera is now starting to show glimpses of his potential but this is proof that what Arteta wants as a number 8 can be difficult to learn in only a few weeks or months. For Kai Havertz, this is even more of a challenge, because his versatility allows Mikel Arteta to play him in multiple positions, most of the time as the match is going on. Arteta is a student of fluid football which sees multiple players playing multiple positions during a game, but in the case of Kai Havertz, it could be that Mikel wants too much from him too quickly. Already in his Arsenal career he has played the number 8 role, number 10 role and played as a centre forward against Manchester City in the Community Shield.

Another aspect that comes into play when speaking about Kai Havertz is something that most football fans do not take into account when talking about a player who earns astronomical wages for playing football, is confidence. Havertz struggled at Chelsea last season which saw him lose faith from the Chelsea fandom, who did not believe that he was a striker who could win them a premier league or any major trophy and that he was too flimsy and wasteful in front of goal. Arsenal fans echoed this view about Havertz and so were left baffled as to why Mikel Arteta would want to sign him. Kai Havertz is 24 years of age and although he may say in his interviews that he doesn’t look at Social Media, we all know the truth that he does and that he sees the comments that are made about him online. There is no doubt that he knows that some Arsenal fans have had an agenda against him from day 1 as he is coming from a rival club, the same way that Arsenal fans felt about Willian coming to their club and the same way that people felt about Jorginho coming to their club. This is bound to affect his confidence on the pitch and affect him trying new things that would make the Arsenal fans begin to love him.