In the minds of many Chelsea fans, Kai Havertz was not a flop, simply because he scored the game winning goal in the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League Final. The most expensive German born player of all-time, when he moved to Chelsea from Bayer Leverkusen for £62 million three years ago, he sometimes gets a pass, simply because he achieved that historical scoring strike. But after just 19 goals and 7 assists in 91 Premier League appearances for the west London club, he moved north this summer, both on the map, and in the standings.
At Arsenal, the expectations are now much higher, given that the club spent most of last season top of the table. The expectations are especially high for Havertz, who is the North London club’s highest paid player.
Yes, Havertz is at the top of the Arsenal salaries chart, at £280,000 per week. Having moved over, earlier this summer, for a reported fee of £65 million, he makes a whopping £14,560,000 per season. We’re only three games in, but he hasn’t scored yet. And when you lead the way on the list of Arsenal wages, you have to produce. Period. Point blank. Havertz even makes more money than Declan Rice, who famously broke the all-time transfer fee record for an English born player, earlier this summer. So why is Havertz struggling?
Both then and now?
The German might just be a square peg in a round hole here, as we don’t really know what his best position truly is. Is he a 9? An attacking midfielder? An out and out striker? Can you place him central to lead the line, or is better in a deeper role?
It really all depends on the system fit; and how he adjusted/adjusts to a new league. Kai Havertz has never been able to replicate in the Premier League the prolific scoring production he had with Leverkusen. He only had seven league goals in 35 appearances last season. He never pulled off a double digit scoring campaign in three seasons at Chelsea, having done that feat twice in the Bundesliga.
Right now, the German international is getting compared to Thierry Henry, for better or worse. The club’s best every player, in the eyes of some, infamously struggled when he first arrived from France, and it took him two months to register his first goal.
Obviously, you know what the left-footed Frenchman would go on to do.
So those defending Kai Havertz may actually be making the situation worse, as they are taking sky high expectations, and making them even more unrealistic. It kind of happens to all the players who have put on the shirt for both Chelsea and Arsenal in recent years.
The list is long: Cesc Fabregas, Willian, David Luiz, Jorginho, Olivier Giroud, Ashley Cole, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Petr Cech and on and on.
Most of them leave behind a complicated legacy, as their respective impacts, at both clubs, polarized the two London fan bases.