Kai Havertz completes transfer to Arsenal as Chelsea continue clearout

The Germany international is likely to fill a midfield role under Mikel Arteta

(Getty Images)

Arsenal have completed the signing of Kai Havertz, landing the German international on a long-term contract after a permanent deal from Chelsea.

Last season’s Premier League runners-up are also looking to add Declan Rice to their squad and have made a bid which, if successful, will be a British transfer record.

And the England man, along now with Havertz, will form part of a new-look midfield for the Gunners with manager Mikel Arteta keen to add a new dimension to the centre of the park.

That will be in contrast to Havertz’s role at Chelsea, where he was usually found operating at centre-forward or from the channels.

While Havertz did score the winner in the Champions League final of 2021, there remains a feeling he never quite showed his very best form on a consistent basis at Stamford Bridge.

Upon completing the deal, Arsenal sporting director Edu 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 added: “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.”

Haverz himself cited the mindset and capacit to challenge for trophies as factors he was looking forward to after joining the Emirates Stadium club. “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,” he said.

“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.”