What Mikel Arteta saw this summer in under-fire Arsenal star has now become clear

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Kai Havertz is beginning to justify Mikel Arteta’s decision to bring him to Arsenal.

It took Kai Havertz a while to find his feet at Arsenal.

Earlier on this season, Havertz attracted heavy criticism as he struggled to acclimatise to life at the Emirates Stadium. He arrived at Arsenal looking short on confidence and uncomfortable with the tactical demands being made of him by Mikel Arteta.

After all, in his time at Chelsea, the German was primarily used as a striker. However, following the departure of Granit Xhaka in the summer, Havertz has largely been used as a midfielder by Arsenal, tasked with taking up the left-eight berth vacated by the Swiss star.

In his last two outings, though, against Liverpool and West Ham United, the 24-year-old has been given the responsibility of leading the line, at least in a nominal sense. In reality, Havertz has been playing as a kind of hybrid between a false-nine striker and left-eight midfielder, flitting between the two positions. 

This was particularly in evidence against West Ham, when he and Leandro Trossard constantly rotated and interchanged their positions throughout the match, making it harder for opposition defenders to track and contain both players.

Mikel Arteta’s vision for Kai Havertz at Arsenal takes shape 

Given the likes of Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, and Martin Odegaard understandably hogged the headlines for their efforts against West Ham, Havertzs’ contribution will have flown somewhat under the radar. After all, he did not register a goal or an assist, but by no means did that mean he had a bad game. 

The 42-cap Germany international more than played his part in what was an all-round excellent attacking display from the Gunners. His movement caused problems, his hold-up and link-up play was good, and he provided a focal point at times.

The stats underline the impressive level of his involvement. According to data from WhoScored, Havertz played 3 key passes against West Ham, took on 2 shots, won 6 aerial duels (more than any other player on the pitch), and made 1 tackle and 1 interception.

In this hybrid striker/midfielder role, it was finally clear what Arteta saw in Havertz in the summer that convinced him to part with £65 million to secure his services. Whether that price was a fair one for the player is a separate argument, and in any case, trying to determine what represents actual value in the modern transfer market is largely a fool’s errand. At least now, though, there are signs of the manager’s summer vision becoming a reality.