Gallas: 'Kai Havertz will fail at Arsenal'
"Havertz is playing ineffectively," Gallas said on September 2. "I was really surprised when Arsenal bought Havertz, even though it was possible to buy another player. It is very difficult for Havertz to find a suitable position, when Arsenal plays differently from Chelsea. I don't think Havertz will be successful at Arsenal."
Famous commentator Richard Keys - who worked for BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky, Talksport, Al Jazeera, Fox Sports, ESPN Star Sports, BeIN Sports - sarcastically called Havertz "the new Mesut Ozil but without talent." ". "Arsenal didn't know what to do with Ozil, so they sold him! And now they've gone to buy Havertz," Keys said.
This summer, Havertz joined Arsenal for a total fee of $ 83 million, enjoying the highest weekly salary of the team with $ 265,000. However, the German player has not had a goal or an assist, despite being given the opportunity by coach Mikel Arteta to start all four official matches.
In the English Super Cup match against Man City, Havertz was ranked highest. With the first three rounds of the Premier League remaining, Arteta pushed Thomas Partey to the back to the right to combine Havertz with Declan Rice and captain Martin Odegaard into a new trio of midfielders of the "Gunners".
These experiments were ineffective as Arsenal started unconvincingly. They won against Man City in a penalty shootout after drawing 1-1 in regular time thanks to Leandro Trossard's lucky shot in injury time of the English Super Cup. After that, the London team narrowly won against lower opponents Nottingham 2-1, Crystal Palace 1-0 and then drew 2-2 with Fulham despite playing at the Emirates home field and being superior in the Premier League.
On the podcast "It's All Kicking Off", former striker Chris Sutton considered it unfair for Havertz to be negatively evaluated in a short time. However, Sutton admitted that the German player needs time to integrate and this is a problem for Arteta, in the context that Arsenal needs to immediately accelerate to race for the championship.
Meanwhile, Jermaine Pennant admitted that Arsenal spending large amounts of money on Havertz was a confusing deal. According to Pennant, Havertz is not number 9 as he does not score many goals and is not a sharp striker, and is more reasonable at number 10 - which currently belongs to captain Martin Odegaard.
Faced with a wave of criticism, Arteta defended Havertz, saying that his student is a quality player with great performance. The Spanish coach also cited many Arsenal contracts whose abilities were also questioned before they shined, including Odegaard, Gabriel Magalhaes or Ben White. Granit
In the great battle of Man Utd in the fourth round of the Premier League today, in the context of Partey's injury and the possibility of a three-month break, Havertz is likely to continue to play midfield with Rice and Odegaard. At that time, Arsenal can return to the familiar defense of last season, including White, William Saliba, Gabriel and Oleksandr Zinchenko.
