Is Chelsea Flop Kai Havertz Finally Starting To Look Like A £75m Player Again At Arsenal?

Kai Havertz scored again as Arsenal won 4-3 against Luton on Tuesday.

The 24-year-old was deployed in central midfield at Kenilworth Road where he raced into the box to get on the end of a neat pass from Gabriel Jesus in the 60th minute.

Havertz has now scored four goals in his last six games for Arsenal and Germany - despite being played as a left-back for his country.

Kai Havertz pictured (right) scoring for Arsenal in a 4-3 win at Luton Town on Tuesday

IMAGO/PA Images/Joe Giddens

Arsenal signed Havertz from Chelsea in June. He cost the Gunners a transfer fee of £65 million, according to Sky Sports.

Three years earlier, Chelsea paid Bayer Leverkusen a whopping £75m to sign a player who had scored 38 goals in his final two seasons in Germany.

Havertz famously netted the winning goal for Chelsea in the 2021 Champions League final.

But he was still viewed as a flop by a large section of Blues supporters when he left Stamford Bridge having scored just 19 goals in 91 Premier League games.

Havertz pictured (right) scoring the winning goal for Chelsea against Manchester City in the 2021 UEFA Champions League final

IMAGO/Sportimage/David Klein

Havertz spent much of his Chelsea career playing up front but he had often been used in a deeper starting role during his time at Leverkusen.

Portugal manager Roberto Martinez watched Arsenal's game at Luton on Tuesday while working as a pundit for Amazon Prime Sport.

He was impressed by Havertz's performance in the center of the pitch.

Martinez suggested that Havertz is finally starting to resemble the player who previously lit up the Bundesliga and seduced Chelsea into splashing the cash in 2020.

"Kai Havertz is starting to look like the player we see in Germany," said Martinez.

"Kai gives you something different. Today, his physicality was needed more and he was good."

Despite operating from midfield, Havertz recorded five shots on Tuesday - more than any other player. He also produced four key passes.

In terms of the physicality Martinez referred to, Havertz won six aerial battles against Luton and made two tackles.

Havertz was one of Arsenal's best players during Tuesday's win at Luton

IMAGO/PA Images/Joe Giddens

Havertz lost his way at Stamford Bridge where he became the poster boy of Chelsea's often blunt attack.

But under Mikel Arteta he has been allowed to reinvent himself.

Havertz was frequently criticized for having a poor first touch in and around the box at Chelsea.

That criticism was often justified but hold-up play and clinical finishing were never his forte.

Two of Havertz's last three goals for Arsenal exemplify what he is best at in an attacking sense. That is timing his runs to exploit space created by a no.9 and then finishing instinctively - without having time to doubt himself.

Chelsea may have sold Arsenal a dud of a striker. But the Gunners bought an excellent goalscoring midfielder.