GM, Free Agents. Happy Thursday.

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Ornstein has dropped us a bomba… 👇️ 

Beans to be spilled:

• Kai Havertz to… Arsenal?! 💥🤷 

  • Potential price of the deal 💰️ 

  • Potential fit at Arsenal 🧤 

  • Sanity check 🙃

KAI HAVERTZ TO ARSENAL? 💥🤷 

David Ornstein dropped one of his trademark bombs yesterday. Out of absolutely nowhere, he reported that Arsenal had made an offer to sign Kai Havertz from London rivals Chelsea this summer.

We’ll be the first to say that this was one of the last things we would expect to hear while Arsenal’s potential deals for for Declan Rice & potentially Moises Caicedo seem to be heating up.

Potential price of the deal 💰️ 

Fabrizio Romano reported that Chelsea have placed an initial £75mm price tag on Havertz’s head.

This has scared off Real Madrid, for now, who will reportedly not even pay £50mm for the German international.

Fabrizio & Ornstein have mentioned that Arsenal, too, have no intention of paying anywhere near £75mm.

• Both also reported that Bayern Munich are interested in Havertz.

With Chelsea needing to balance their books & sell players, a deal seems like it could probably be struck for around £60mm.

• Todd Boehly will be hoping for a bidding war between Arsenal, Bayern, & Madrid.

Potential fit 🧤 

This is an interesting deal, considering how Kai Havertz is viewed from the perspective of the average PL & Chelsea fan.

• In recent years he has been painted as a player who never lived up to the hype, and never scored enough goals (check out his stats…).

What do Arsenal, Bayern, & Madrid see that Chelsea and other football fans do not?

His best role

At Bayer Leverkeusen, Kai Havertz’s best role was as a free-floating attacker who did not have all the responsibility of a #9.

• He could float in the spaces of a #10, Second Striker, CM, or even off to the wide areas of the pitch.

He is a what the Germans call a “raumdeuter”

• “a role in which the player has two main objectives. First, find the space in the opposition’s defence. Second, exploit the space. The player does not occupy a fixed palace; his position on the pitch is determined by where the space is.“

Being able to float & play off a striker à la Thomas Muller or Dennis Bergkamp is where Havertz has thrived the most in his young career.

Fit at Arsenal

It’s hard to believe that Arsenal would pour ~£60mm into a player that they didn’t intend to be a starter. So where could he fit into the team then? 

Currently, the front 5 at Arsenal looks like this:

• Martinelli-Xhaka-Jesus-Odegaard-Saka

Jesus’s “deep-lying 9” role

• Here, Havertz would have the liberty to drop into midfield, interchange positions with the rest of the front 5 freely, or stay up top to be more a #9.

Odegaard’s right attacking mid role (move Odegaard to Xhaka’s role)

• Havertz could float around more as a second striker (SS)/#10 to play off of Jesus.

Sanity check 🙃 

Arsenal’s priorities this summer are clear:

• #6 (defensive midfielder)— Moises Caicedo?

• #8 (dynamic attacking/defensively capable midfielder)— Declan Rice?

• Right-sided defender (RCB or RB)— ?

• Attacker (right wing or #9)— ?

When you look at this list, Kai Havertz doesn’t exactly check off any specific box.

He would be a “luxury” or “opportunistic” signing for Arsenal, who may think that they are getting a steal for a player whose stock is currently low, but in reality is much more valuable.

This is the reason we likely see Bayern & Madrid lurking as well.

Verdict— good or bad signing?

If Arsenal can secure the signatures of Rice & Caicedo first, being able to sign Havertz for around £50mm could be quite the steal— IF (and only if) Mikel Arteta is able to get him back to his best.

• Working off of history, Arteta was able to resurrect the meandering career of former child prodigy Martin Odegaard. For Arsenal fans, that can be a shining example of what Havertz could do under Arteta.

All that being said, Havertz has shown a lack of finishing prowess in front of goal & ability to find teammates consistently in the final third. He is fairly one-footed as well.

• Is a lot that down to his role in a very poor Chelsea team?

  • Is Arteta sure enough in his answer to be willing to pay >£50mm to find out?

Let’s see! 🍿 

This is a pretty wild one. It will be very interesting to see how it turns out. Could move quickly! Stay tuned. Same time tomorrow.

Cheers,

—The Gaffer