Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has criticised Mikel Arteta’s decision to bring Kai Havertz to Arsenal.
Kai Havertz has not had the easiest of starts to his Arsenal career.
The German arrived from Chelsea in the recent summer transfer window, and Mikel Arteta immediately set about changing and adapting the player’s game.
In his time at Chelsea, Havertz was routinely deployed as a striker, though he struggled to consistently shine in that role. At the Emirates Stadium, though, the 24-year-old has primarily been used as a midfielder, in the left-eight berth that Granit Xhaka was able to excel in last season.
It took the player a while to adapt to this role. Havertz came in for plenty of criticism in his early days in north London. In fairness, whilst he has produced a few good performances in the last couple of months, the 42-cap Germany international is yet to really start living up to his price tag.
Arsenal spent heavily to bring Havertz to the club, shelling out £65 million to prise him away from their London rivals.
In the absence of the injured Gabriel Jesus, Arteta opted to use Havertz at the top end of the pitch. He was deployed up front against Liverpool, and played his part in helping Arsenal to a vital 3-1 over Liverpool, albeit without getting on the scoresheet himself.
Havertz had a chance to put Arsenal ahead in the first half. His clever run was picked out by Martin Odegaard, but the striker could only fire his short directly at Alisson Becker. Fortunately, the ball was parried straight to the feet of Bukayo Saka, who stroked it home into an empty net.
Gary Neville raises Kai Havertz concerns
Reviewing Havertz’s performance after the match on Sky Sports, Gary Neville questioned the decision to bring him to the club in the first place. The former full-back certainly does not think that Havertz can be an effective striker for the Gunners. A prolific presence to spearhead the attack is currently lacking in Arteta’s squad, and Neville believes that the money that was used to sign Havertz would have been better spent on a proven goalscorer.
The Manchester United icon said, “they spent £65 million on Havertz. I watched him today Havertz when he’s moving into the box, he’s a different type of player, but he’s quite languid. There’s no change of pace into the box, there’s no change of direction, there’s no little darts.”
Arteta will certainly hope that there is more to come from Havertz. However, he definitely has something to offer Arsenal. His talent is not in doubt. If the Spanish coach can unlock his full potential, fill him with confidence, and find a way to coax consistency out of him, then he could still be a superstar for the Gunners. Those are some big ‘ifs’, though.
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