German international Kai Havertz secures long-term contract with Arsenal
Kai Havertz of Germany battles for possession with Declan Rice of England Credit: Alex Morton - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images
German international star Kai Havertz has put pen to paper on a long-term deal with Arsenal, making the move from Chelsea.
The 24-year-old player, who boasts of 35 appearances for the German national team with 13 goals, has established himself as a key player at club and international level, participating in two major tournaments.
Havertz, a product of Bayer Leverkusen’s academy, turned professional in 2016. During his tenure at Leverkusen, he made 150 appearances, scoring 46 goals, and providing 31 assists.
Havertz holds the distinction of being Leverkusen’s youngest Bundesliga debutant at 17 years and 126 days. He also became their youngest ever scorer in the league with a late equalizer in a 3-3 draw against VfL Wolfsburg in April 2017.
The player made a move to Chelsea in the summer of 2020. His three seasons in west London saw him make 139 appearances, scoring 32 goals and assisting 15 times across all competitions.
Havertz was pivotal in Chelsea’s 2021 UEFA Champions League victory over Manchester City, scoring the match's only goal.
Sporting Director Edu expressed excitement about the deal. Speaking to www.arsenal.com, he said, “We’re excited to bring Kai to the club and great work by everyone to get this deal complete. Kai is an exciting addition to our squad, who will bring great attacking quality and versatility."
"As an experienced 24-year-old, his signing represents another important step in strengthening our young core of talented players we have at Arsenal. We look forward to working with Kai.”
Manager Mikel Arteta also shared his enthusiasm about the signing. Arteta said, “Kai is a player of top quality. He has great versatility and is an intelligent player. He will bring a huge amount of extra strength to our midfield and variety to our play. We welcome Kai and his family to Arsenal Football Club and we are all excited to start working with him when we start pre-season training soon.”
Havertz also expressed his anticipation about joining Arsenal.
He said, “It's super exciting for me to be joining this amazing club and to be part of the Arsenal family. This club has such a big history, and I hope we can achieve lots of things. The mentality in the Arsenal squad is very high and you can feel that. That was one of the reasons why it has been so hard to play against Arsenal recently."
"The aim is to win trophies and I’m going to give everything to do that for the supporters and everyone at the club. I'm now looking forward to meeting all the players and the staff when we come back for pre-season.”
Fans can expect to see Havertz don the number 29 shirt when he joins his new teammates for pre-season training in early July.
