David Dein has issued a very telling response when asked what exactly Kai Havertz brings to Arsenal following his surprise move from Chelsea in the summer.
Dein was speaking on talkSPORT as he admitted that he would struggle to criticise any player after being asked about the Germany international.
David Dein asked what Kai Havertz has brought to Arsenal
It is fair to say that Kai Havertz is yet to prove why exactly Mikel Arteta pushed to sign him in the summer. Of course, he arrived off the back of a largely disappointing spell with Chelsea.
Havertz apparently became the highest-paid player at Arsenal when he joined the club. However, he has only scored one goal – and that came from the penalty spot in the win over Bournemouth.
Havertz did do brilliantly to set up the winning goal in Arsenal’s victory over Manchester City. But the number of genuinely bright moments can arguably be counted on one hand.
David Dein was full of praise for Declan Rice in an interview with talkSPORT. But when he was then asked about Havertz, the former vice-chairman seemed to opt for the policy of if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all.
“It’s unfair for me to be critical. But not every player’s going to be a success. You hope for the best, you identify a player. We were fortunate with Arsene because he didn’t make too many mistakes,” he said.
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Gunners’ gamble currently backfiring
The good news for Havertz is Arsenal have so much quality. They do not have to rely on him to come good to have a successful campaign. In fact, he has only completed 90 minutes in the Premier League on two occasions since the end of August.
That takes some of the pressure off his shoulders. But given the fee Arsenal spent on him, it is imperative that he makes more of an impact over the coming months.
Arsenal took a huge gamble bringing Havertz to the club in the summer. He definitely has the talent to be a success in time. But as things stand, it does appear that the gamble is backfiring.