The north Londoners have enjoyed a promising start to the season, though it's evident they still have areas to iron out to be considered serious title contenders again this term.
Arsenal news – Kai Havertz
Earlier in the window, Arsenal signed German forward Havertz for £65m from cross-London rivals Chelsea as Mikel Arteta looked to re-jig his side in order to rub shoulders with Manchester City for domestic glory again. While he usually operated as a centre-forward at his previous employers, the Spaniard has typically utilised Havertz as his side's second No.8 in the formative stages of his Emirates career. The former Blue has accrued 323 minutes of football in 2023/24, though his zero goal involvements, per Transfermarkt, may be a cause for concern.
Granted, his return in front of goal for Chelsea wasn’t exactly ground-breaking seeing as he only racked up 32 goals and 15 assists in his 139-game career in west London. The switch across London was viewed as a fresh start for the 24-year-old seeing as his performances had somewhat begun to plateau, but just recently journalist Paul Brown told GIVEMESPORT that there are still some concerns over the former Bayer Leverkusen man, while suggesting the 'jury is still out'. And now, transfer insider Jones has provided GIVEMESPORT with his honest opinion on how Havertz, who pockets a lofty £280,000-per-week at his new employers, has looked in 2023/24.Arsenal signings summer 2023
Fee
David Raya (Brentford)
Loan
Kai Haverz (Chelsea)
£65m
Declan Rice (West Ham)
£105m
Jurrien Timber (Ajax)
£38m
All transfer fees via Sky Sports
What has Dean Jones said about Arsenal and Kai Havertz?
When quizzed about how Havertz has been performing so far, transfer insider Jones told GIVEMESPORT he has been shocked by Arsenal’s alterations to their style of play since the German international joined just in order to shoe-horn him into the side. He added that Havertz’s subpar output so far could be attributed to his low levels of confidence and how unhappy he seemingly looks.
He said: “I have actually been pretty shocked by just how his arrival at Arsenal is being allowed to influence how they now play. The structure of the set-up now just isn’t as good as it was last season and to be honest it’s pretty unnecessary. I understand Arteta wants more than one way of playing, but there’s been no need to change things this early so radically.
“I was at the Arsenal game against Fulham and was shocked at just how poor he was. He got into the right areas sometimes but even then, he just couldn’t carry out the play that was needed. His confidence seems low but more than that it seems like he’s playing with no joy. This is a player who has to be enjoying his football - he honestly is a very good footballer but in order to get there he has to be happy. I don’t sense that when he’s on the pitch at the moment. Arteta is probably trying to build that confidence by playing him until it clicks in to gear but at the moment him being in the line-up is to the detriment of this team. They need to get back to playing their strongest line-up and as it stands, he’s not part of that.
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