'Slap in the face'... Pundit is furious with use of 24-year-old Arsenal player over the international break

Lothar Matthaus has now shared his frustration with the decision to play Arsenal’s Kai Havertz as a left-back for Germany on Saturday.

Matthaus was speaking in his Sky Germany column and said the move was a ‘slap in the face’ for the other left-backs around the squad.

Julian Nagelsmann was clearly tempted to try something new with Havertz’s broad skill set, but Matthaus did not want to see it again.

Matthaus said: “It can’t be a permanent solution if I suddenly let one of the best German offensive players of recent years play full-back.

“This is also a slap in the face to those who last played there, even if there were problems on the left side of the defence recently.

“I was surprised that David Raum wasn’t in the starting lineup.”

Of course, Kai Havertz has already been enduring a positional change at Arsenal prior to this Germany move.

It shouldn’t be understated how different the number eight role Havertz is being tasked with at Arsenal is to the positions he’s played before.

Kai Havertz has now played several positions for Arsenal and Germany

Of course, whilst these positional changes may bode well for Havertz in the long run, they are disruptive right now.

Fans understandably want to see an instant impact from a £65m signing, but he’s proving an ongoing project.

There has rarely been so much uncertainty attached to an Arsenal and Germany player since the days of Mesut Ozil in England.

And the similarities between the duo show no signs of slowing down.

Either way, it’s clear that so many managers believe that Havertz still has so much untapped potential at 24-years-old.

And perhaps this experimentation with Havertz’s positioning at Arsenal and Germany should be a positive nod.

Havertz is a unique profile with some brilliant attributes, but he hasn’t quite found his calling just yet.

But Mikel Arteta seems convinced that he is the manager to untap Havertz’s rich potential.