For all of the criticism levelled at Kai Havertz over his inconsistent finishing, he is one of Arsenal’s most important players right now as the only established centre-forward in Mikel Arteta’s squad, with Gabriel Jesus out for the season.
News that the German has suffered a torn hamstring during Arsenal’s warm weather training camp in the Middle East and is likely to miss the rest of the season, as reported by The Athletic, is a significant blow.
As well as Jesus, Arsenal are currently without both Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli due to hamstring injuries.
Saka underwent surgery in December and is still some way off a return and Martinelli has been ruled out for a month after pulling up against Newcastle earlier this month.
What do we know about Havertz’s injury?
It is unclear whether Havertz will require surgery on his injury, but his focus is reportedly now recovering in time for August, the start of the 2025-26 campaign.
Arteta may feel like this latest injury blow is symptomatic of Arsenal’s season.
Havertz has a near-perfect fitness record since joining Arsenal from Chelsea for £65m in 2023, missing only three games due to illness or injury.
The 25-year-old’s reliability is one of his biggest assets. Havertz has never been sidelined for longer than a few weeks and the most consecutive matches he has missed throughout his career is six after he tested positive for Covid during the 2020-21 season when at Chelsea.
Havertz was seen receiving treatment at the end of Arsenal’s 1-0 win over Wolves on 25 January but went on to feature in their three subsequent matches against Girona, Manchester City and Newcastle, when he played the full 90 minutes.
How has Havertz performed this season?
Although Havertz has been guilty of some glaring misses this season – only Ollie Watkins and Erling Haaland have spurned more big chances in the Premier League – he has already enjoyed a more prolific campaign this season compared to last.
The Germany international has scored 15 goals in 34 appearances in all competitions, up from 14 in 51 in his debut campaign in north London.
He is comfortably Arsenal’s leading scorer with six more than Saka in second.
Who could replace Havertz against Leicester?
Arteta’s attacking options are so stretched that his front three will practically pick itself this weekend.
The positive for Arteta is that his three remaining forwards have all played as a false nine at points in their careers; the downside is that all three are better suited to playing out wide.
Ethan Nwaneri’s recent return from a hamstring injury has been a rare piece of good news on the injury front and he has showcased his goalscoring capabilities in a breakthrough season by scoring seven times in just 700 minutes.
In December, Arteta suggested that Nwaneri could eventually develop into a No 9, saying “when he’s got the goal in front of him, he just looks at the goal. He has a tremendous ability to put the ball into the back of the net.”
Whether Nwaneri is ready to lead the line in the Premier League is another matter, and Arteta may prefer deploying Leandro Trossard or Raheem Sterling there instead.
Neither have been in particularly good goalscoring form this season, though. Trossard has five goals in 36 games, while Sterling has scored just once in 18 matches since signing on loan from Chelsea.
Given that Trossard has previously played in that role for Arsenal, he is the likeliest to fill in for Havertz.
How Arsenal could line up against Leicester without Havertz
Will Havertz’s injury affect Arsenal’s transfer plans?
Arsenal are expected to buy a new striker in the summer regardless. They accelerated their plans during the winter after Jesus tore his ACL in the FA Cup defeat to Manchester United on 12 January.
The Gunners launched an ambitious £60m move for Watkins towards the end of the transfer window but were rebuffed by Villa who opted to sell Jhon Duran to Al-Nassr for £64m instead.
Alexander Isak is the dream signing but prising him away from Newcastle will be extremely difficult given he has three years remaining on his contract.
Other long-term targets include RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko and Sporting Lisbon’s Viktor Gyokeres are likely to be more attainable at the end of this season than they were in the middle of it.
Still, Arteta may rue the club’s inactivity this month. A short-term signing to give them much-needed depth would have been useful and Arsenal were linked with a loan move for Bayern Munich’s Mathys Tel who joined their north London rivals Tottenham instead.
Arsenal have only played one fixture since the window closed and yet their current forward options have dwindled from five to three due to the injuries to Havertz and Martinelli.
Playing a waiting game to get the right player in rather than a stop-gap was an admirable, if risky, position to adopt. It’s a gamble that has already backfired.
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