It has been a little over five months since German international Kai Havertz departed Chelsea Football Club for the northern side of the capital. Though he netted the match-winner against Brentford this past weekend, the beginning to his life with Arsenal Football Club has not been the smoothest of rides.
For the first time since he left, Havertz expressed some of the reasons why his summer transfer happened as quickly as it did. After speaking about his game-winning goal against Manchester City in the 2021 Champions League Final with Bleacher Report, the German dove into this past summer.
"“I think it all had to go very fast. Think it was just (on) my holidays and then we were speaking to the guys from Arsenal and it was an opportunity to do it then so we just did it. You know the whole process was nice.”"
He continued:
"“I had some chats with Edu (AFC’s Sporting Director) and with the manager and all the chats were amazing and they gave me such good feelings. So, (I) just wanted to do it as quickly as possible and maybe that’s why it happened so fast.”"
Having his pal Jorginho already there had to have helped move the process along even faster. He wanted a fresh start, and what a better place for that than a club coming off a second-place finish in the Premier League. I’m sure as time passes, the German will give us even more detail about the move, including a potential reflection on his time at Stamford Bridge.
Havertz was out the door in the SW6 less than a month following his final appearance in blue, a 1-1 draw against Newcastle United. The ex-Bayer Leverkusen star was announced at his new home the same day as Edouard Mendy’s transfer to Al-Ahli become official. Havertz was one of just five players to say farewell to west London before Mauricio Pochettino was formally declared as the new boss on July 1.
Kai Havertz’s June move was one of 13 first team transfers in a month’s span for Chelsea
Chelsea will always cherish the contributions No. 29 brought to the club during his short stint. He is forever embedded in the lore of the club. Those clutch moments were never enough to overshadow his inconsistencies which became the norm. Havertz never really found “his” position in blue, playing in the midfield and most often as a false No. 9 under multiple managers. The German is not a striker. The west Londoners were convinced he could be. That was part of the problem.
In that role, many expected goals. CFC needed that in a campaign where it couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with a beach ball. The finishes just didn’t come game in and game out. In order to get those, he needed to run in behind more frequently than he did, something that was a massive part of his game in the Bundesliga. In fact, the German did not contribute to a single goal in his final 693 minutes with the west London outfit. Only time will tell if CFC’s failed utilization of the dynamic young talent will come back to bite it.
Poch’s Blues will not see the former Champions League hero again until March when they travel to the Emirates for an evening kick on a Saturday.