Chelsea agrees to sell the German attacker after a disappointing 2022–23 season, and Arsenal will pay £65 million to get Kai Havertz.
The Athletic reports that the German forward’s physical will now be scheduled before his formal introduction at the Emirates Stadium. Havertz has already agreed to personal terms with the Arsenal after declining a prospective contract extension at Chelsea, and the two clubs are currently finalising “potential instalments and add-ons”.
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Havertz has scored 32 goals in 139 games for Chelsea since joining the club from Bayer Leverkusen for £72m in 2020. Only nine of those efforts were recorded in 2022-23 as the attacker endured a dismal campaign, with Chelsea failing to win a single piece of silverware while dropping into the Premier League’s bottom-half.
AND WHAT’S MORE: Chelsea are in the process of offloading a number of first-team stars in a bid to trim their bloated squad ahead of Mauricio Pochettino’s first season in charge. Havertz will be staying in the Premier League, but N’Golo Kante has signed for Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia, and it looks as though he will be joined in the Middle East by Hakim Ziyech, Kalidou Koulibaly and Edouard Mendy.
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WHAT’S NEXT? Havertz will join up with his new team-mates at Arsenal ahead of their pre-season campaign, which kicks off against Nurnberg on July 13. It remains to be seen how the Germany international will fit into Mikel Arteta’s system, but he will be expected to compete with Gabriel Jesus for regular minutes upfront in 2023-24.
