This season alone, one Arsenal ace has played in the centre of midfield, as something of a number ten, as a line-leading number nine and even – on one occasion – as a left-back during an international break.
But, ahead of Arsenal’s Champions League quarter-final clash with old adversaries Bayern Munich tonight, Mikel Arteta appears to have finally solved one of the most perplexing puzzles in European football.
Much of the pre-match discussion has focused on just how The Gunners will keep Harry Kane quiet, the Gabriel Magalhaes – William Saliba partnership facing their toughest test of the season up against a man who already has 14 career goals against the London giants.
Arsenal, however, have a centre-forward in quite some form himself. And, yes, Kai Havertz is a centre-forward these days. A pretty good one too, Arteta finding a home for one of the modern game’s most mercurial talents and, until recently, something of a positional nomad.
Arsenal vs Bayern as Kai Havertz takes on Harry Kane
Havertz, stellar again during Saturday’s 3-0 trouncing of Brighton and Hove Albion, now has 10 goals or assists in his last 11 games for club and country.
Not that Bayern boss Thomas Tuchel will need any introduction into the Germany international’s balletic talents. Havertz, of course, was the man who scored the winner as Tuchel’s Chelsea defeated Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in the 2021 Champions League final.
“Kai scored maybe the best goal of my coaching career so far,” Tuchel tells Hayters TV. “He’s a very lovely guy. Very nice guy, top character and amazing team player with outstanding qualities.
“I’m very, very happy for him that he (is proving his) value after a bit of a rough start. But he gets the (praise) he deserves.”
Arsenal paid £65 million to bring Havertz across the capital, and it’s testament not only to his self-confidence but also Arteta’s coaching that the former Bayer Leverkusen wonderkid is threatening to go from ‘Flop of the Season’ favourite to one of 2023/24’s most effective acquisitions, if he hasn’t already.
Jens Lehmann is a big fan
“Havertz is doing very well at the moment,” agrees Jens Lehmann, the former Arsenal and Germany goalkeeper speaking to Munchner Merkur. “And also (he) has a good understanding of the game.
“He is scoring more and more goals. He is physically very strong.”
Havertz, who was heavily linked with Bayern before putting pen to paper on that long-term contract with Arsenal last summer, now has 10 goals and five assists for The Gunners. Four more goals between now and the season’s end, and this will become his most prolific campaign in English football.
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