Arsenal have reached an agreement in principle with Chelsea to sign forward Kai Havertz. Deal for 24yo Germany international is worth around £65m. Personal terms are already in place, attacker’s medical will follow in due course @TheAthleticFC #AFC #CFC
65mil is too much. I don’t agree that he’s shit, but around 40 seems more reasonable after the season they had and that they need to off load a lot of players.
Yeah it’s a heck of a lot of money, but hopefully Arteta can get him firing. Hard to think of any players that have really been exceptional at Chelsea in the past few years.
Reece James maybe
Steep cost, especially with how he’s performed the last couple of years.
What I’m doing is pretending we’re signing him straight from Leverkusen where he’s coming off a season with 12 goals in the Bundesliga and 4 in the Champions League.
I’m convinced his next tweet will be “the deal for Havertz has been delayed. I sneezed and now they are trying to figure out how someone got in the walls. I can hold my breath for 2 minutes, this should blow over, and medical will follow after this”
That’s watts mate not orny
Orny would have plenty of room in there though since Watts is on a break this summer.
I really don’t understand this deal.
Havertz’s best position seems to be second striker – a position that no club really uses anymore, especially not Arsenal. He’s definitely a forward, and that’s the area where Arsenal has so many players that truly talented ones like ESR and Reiss Nelson rarely play. And they were just signed to new deals / told they won’t be leaving.
At £65m, he’d have to be a starter. So, who’s going to be benched? Gabriel Jesus? Martinelli? Saka?
The only forward that Arsenal could really use is a “plan B” striker. Someone who can interpret the role differently than Gabriel Jesus / Martinelli / Nketiah / Balogun. Say, a target man. Havertz definitely isn’t a target man, and he plays very similarly to those other forwards when he’s in as a striker.
At least when Arsenal spent £70m on Pepe, there was a clear need for a wide forward. Pepe might not have worked out, but the logic of paying a premium price to fill a real need was sound. This seems like paying a premium price (to a potential rival club) to get a player who doesn’t fill a need.
More important than bringing in an unneeded player is the opportunity cost of not having that £65m to spend elsewhere. Central midfield needs not just one player, but probably 2, or even 3 if Xhaka leaves. The back line could also do with some strengthening. Assuming Saliba stays, the starters are in good shape, but as we saw at the end of the season, 2 injuries or absences and things start looking very thin.
Now, maybe Havertz is a transformational talent. Maybe he is the kind of player who’s so good that if he ever becomes available you get him no matter what. In that case, it doesn’t matter if you have pressing needs elsewhere, or if you already have an excellent player in that position. But, is there any evidence of that? He’s definitely very good, but even if you ignore his time at Chelsea, is there any evidence he’s “Dennis Bergkamp” good? Or even “Mesut Ozil” good?
This is the dumbest deal of all time. Imagine paying that amount for a Chelsea failure.
People are looking at this the wrong way…
Kai is currently in the same spot Xhaka was a few years ago. A player struggling to adapt to a role he isn’t suited for. Did Xhaka become a better player, or was he put in a role/position that suited his skills?
Given another role in another team, I fully expect Kai to do very well and I don’t think 65m is over priced (a high price, but not over priced). Chelsea has struggled for years with their attackers, and I think his inability to succeed at Chelsea is more to do with Chelsea being a shit show, rather than Kai being shit. Werner, Pulisic, Lukaku, Ziyech, Sterling, Auba, Felix, Fofana, Cucu, Koulibaly have all struggled immensely at Chelsea and each one of them has had recent success at other teams. They aren’t bad footballers, they are just in a really shifty situation.
Personally I think he will succeed at Arsenal. He can fit in anywhere in the attacking 3, and I think Arteta would be crazy enough to try him in the 8 role against weaker teams who park the bus.
Yeah. If Mikel wants him that badly that they’re prepared to throw down the cash then I’m fully supportive. Excited to see how the team evolves in the coming seasons.
How many dud transfers have we seen over the last couple of years? None I can point out.
So, I’ll give our guys the benefit of the doubt, and hope Havertz turns into a gunners legend!
@No1 @skybreaker sambi? But he was a young gamble, always going to be a few duds when recruiting from that age range
Fair call. I’d forgotten all about him. I guess we’d be looking to sell him unless he’s had some huge jump in development.
The past couple of years is a very short time span, and conveniently cuts off the signing of Nicolas Pepe. From the past couple of years though, Vieira seems like he wasn’t as successful as you’d hope for a €35m player. But, it’s still early.
