Kieran Gibbs has questioned Mikel Arteta and Arsenal amid their rumoured transfer push for Chelsea forward, Kai Havertz.
The former Arsenal left-back described the club’s interest in the 35-cap Germany international as a ‘funny one’ and doubted if it will work.
But he did note that Chelsea’s abject season makes it ‘easy to write off their players’, so he is hoping Kai Havertz goes down the same road as Kevin de Bruyne and Mohamed Salah, as he told ESPN.
The duo played for Chelsea many moons ago now, but struggled at Stamford Bridge, for one reason or another, left the Premier League stage and later returned as completely different animals.
At Manchester City and Liverpool respectively, they have gone on and won the lot, including de Bruyne winning a historic Treble this season.
Gibbs is hoping that, if Havertz moves to the Emirates for a rumoured £60m, then a change of scenery will help him take that next step in his career and how a manager like Arteta ‘will help him reach his full potential’.
“It’s a funny one with Havertz,” said Gibbs. “I hope I am jinxing myself when I say this, but when I think of Havertz at first thought and what I have seen of him. He doesn’t strike me as a typical Arsenal player.
“The thing with Chelsea is that they have been so bad this season that it’s easy to write off all of their players. I feel like with him, and other Chelsea players, it could be a similar situation into what kind of what happened with de Bruyne and Salah. They changed their environment and now look at them. It’s hard to even remember the players they were at Chelsea.
“I think it will go one way or the other. He will either go there and we will see the same Havertz we saw last season or he becomes a revelation and we start calling him Kai Bergkamp. There is going to be no in-between. Having a manager like Mikel will help him reach his full potential, but he doesn’t start if he goes there.”
Havertz signing a risk
Arsenal are now in a delicate situation because they surprised many by pushing for the Premier League title, only to shoot themselves in the foot during the final few months.
Heading into next season, expectations are high and fans want players to come in to push them over that title line and there is understandable doubt over Havertz, who has declined during the last 18 months, including scoring only seven goals this term.
It’s a huge risk that, as Gibbs mentioned, will have no in-between. This will either go very right like Martin Odegaard or go very wrong like Willian.
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