Stuart Pearce believes that Kai Havertz lacks the one quality which scares opposition defenders despite the Arsenal forward managing to silence a lot of his doubters during his time at the Emirates.
Kai Havertz has definitely had quite the redemption arc since moving to Arsenal last summer. While he scored a Champions League final winner during his time with Chelsea, it definitely appeared that the Blues were getting the best out of a deal which saw Arsenal make Havertz their highest-paid player.
It took the German some time to find his way at the Emirates, with Mikel Arteta even taking him out of the starting lineup after he seemed to struggle in the number eight role.
A winner at Brentford seemed to prove to be the turning point, and Havertz went on to shine in the number nine role as Arsenal took the Premier League title race down to the final day of the campaign, with 13 goals and seven assists for the Gunners.
Kai Havertz lacks one attribute to become top class striker
He has already scored twice for Germany at Euro 2024, and with Arsenal missing out on Benjamin Sesko, it appears that there is a good chance that Havertz will start next season as the Gunners’ main striker.
Speaking on talkSPORT (broadcast on 2/7; 11:46), Stuart Pearce praised Havertz, but shared what he believes is stopping the Arsenal star from becoming a top striker.
“I think, as a defender, you know that his strengths are probably holding the ball up more, maybe the ball coming in the box, his physical stature will cause you a problem, but what he hasn’t got that a lot of top strikers have got is that turn of pace that can go away from you or really quick feet to go past you,” he said.
“That’s what scares you as a defender – somebody that can spin and run in behind and you know full well you can’t catch him again or someone who can get on the half turn and go past you quickly. He has got the ability to get on the half turn and thread a pass to somebody else. That is his strength. If you Arsenal fans, I think he has won a lot of them over over time. They thought, ‘What have we signed here?’ All of a sudden, he is rising up again as a player.”
Arsenal faced difficult decision heading into summer transfer window
Arsenal always faced a difficult decision when it came to what they would do in the summer transfer window after Havertz showed so much promise in the number nine position.
It is hard to imagine that he is ever going to be rivalling Thierry Henry’s numbers when his time at Arsenal comes to an end, but his style appears to be perfectly suited to the way Arteta wants the team to play right now.
So if they did sign a more natural goalscorer – with that scary pace – it needed to be someone who would not rock the boat in terms of the team’s playing style.
There do not appear to be too many world-class strikers around right now, so finding one who would complement what Arsenal are doing would be so challenging. Havertz may not be the finished article, but Arteta obviously feels that Arsenal gain much, much more by having him in the side.
