Arteta told what he must do to unlock ‘special’ potential of Kai Havertz at Arsenal

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Former Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves has shared his verdict on Arsenal star Kai Havertz.

Kai Havertz truly announced himself at Arsenal with a match winning contribution against Brentford on Saturday evening.

The German has endured a difficult start to life at Arsenal, since making his £65 million switch to the Emirates Stadium from Chelsea in the recent summer transfer window. Havertz has come in for plenty of criticism so far this season and has generally looked low on confidence, particularly in the final third.

Mikel Arteta did not name Havertz in the starting XI when his side travelled to the Gtech Community Stadium yesterday. The 24-year-old was not introduced to the fray until the 79th minute, as the Gunners were still striving to break the deadlock. 

Havertz came on in place of Gabriel Martinelli, and took up the left-eight midfield position with Leandro Trossard moving out to the left wing. It was a run from deep, through a channel on the left hand side of the Bees’ penalty area, that earned Havertz his goal.

In the 89th minute, some clever movement in the box allowed Havertz to get on the end of Bukayo Saka’s cross. The former Chelsea man directed his header downwards in textbook fashion and beat Mark Flekken to clinch a 1-0 victory for the Gunners. Those three points sent the north London club to the top of the Premier League table.

Kai Havertz must kick on now at Arsenal

This strike marked only Havertz’s second goal for Arsenal, and his first to come from open play, with twenty appearances, across all competitions, now under his belt. The 42-cap Germany international now needs to build on this moment. He must take confidence from it and use it as a platform that he can use to get his Arsenal career truly up and running.

Owen Hargreaves certainly believes that there is more to come from Havertz. Whilst the player’s versatility is an asset, the former England international believes it may be beginning to hold him back. Speaking to Premier League Productions (25/11/2023, 19:50), he said, “he’s a No. 10, but Odegaard plays there. I think he can play on the right, but Saka plays there. I think he can be a very good centre forward for Arsenal.”

“So I think at some point Mikel maybe needs to say, ‘right, Kai, let’s specialise. What are we going to turn you into?’ Right now I think he’s a Swiss army knife, he can do a lot of things, but I think he needs to specialise, and I think he can be a special player.”

Havertz was generally used as a striker at Chelsea. However, Arteta signed him to take up a midfield role, replacing the outgoing Granit Xhaka. This is the spot in the regular Arsenal starting XI crying out for someone to make it their own. Havertz has to show that he can nail down this place and shine on a consistent basis.