Kai Havertz is determined to hit the ground running this season.
Last term began in the worst possible way as he picked up a long-term knee injury in the very first Premier League game against Manchester United, ruling him out for a significant chunk of the campaign.
He recovered around the turn of the year and ended up with 12 league appearances, and capped off his campaign scoring in the Champions League final against PSG.
It says a lot about his standing in this Arsenal side that Mikel Arteta started the German in the final over Viktor Gyokeres.
Arsenal can only sign Julian Alvarez if one of Viktor Gyokeres or Kai Havertz leaves. Who would you sell?
The manager adores him and will want him spearheading the attack from day one.
Havertz, who scored three goals at the World Cup, will be hoping next season is disruption-free, and that starts with work in pre-season.
The 27-year-old has been working with individual trainer Kusi Kwame at his former club Bayer Leverkusen’s training facilities, and he has not been alone.
Kai Havertz is training with long-time Arsenal target
As per The Sun, Julian Brandt has been spotted training alongside Kai Havertz.
The pair are old friends, both former Leverkusen players who were invited to use the club’s facilities as they finish their holidays.
Kwame runs the Write the Future Academy alongside fellow professional Kevin Weidlich, offering one-on-one and group sessions out of Hamburg.
It is almost certainly nothing more than two friends training together. But Arsenal fans will be very familiar with the name.
The Gunners have been linked with him at various points over the years, and his versatility and technical quality would be something Arteta likes in the player. When he was younger, anyway.
Brandt is a free agent this summer after leaving Borussia Dortmund, but at 30, a move to one of the Premier League’s elite would be extremely unlikely now.
Arsenal have bigger priorities this summer in Bruno Guimaraes and a left-sided forward.
Progress is expected to be made on Guimaraes in the coming days but Newcastle insist the midfielder is not for sale, so a deal won’t be straightforward.
Andrea Berta is determined not to overpay but having already missed out on Arteta’s top attacking target in Morgan Rogers, pressure is starting to mount on the sporting director.
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