Pundit gives “huge credit to Arteta” for proving him wrong on major Arsenal signing



Former Premier League striker and pundit Darren Bent has heaped praise onto Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta for the way he’s got the best out of Kai Havertz since signing him from Chelsea.

The Germany international never really showed his best form at Stamford Bridge, despite scoring a memorable winning goal for the Blues in their 2021 Champions League final victory over Manchester City.

Bent admits he wasn’t at all convinced by Havertz coming to Arsenal in that big-money move of summer 2023, but he’s now very impressed with what the 25-year-old is bringing to Arteta’s team.

The Gunners started out using Havertz in an attacking midfield role, but it now seems he’s really flourishing as the team’s main striker, or perhaps slightly more as a false nine able to shift between midfield and that centre-forward role.

Kai Havertz has proven me wrong, admits Darren Bent

Discussing Havertz on talkSPORT in the video clip below, Bent paid tribute to Arteta for how he’s managed to get the former Chelsea misfit to turn his career around and become so important at the Emirates Stadium, perhaps even now negating the need for the club to make another signing up front.

“I was one, and I hold my hands up and say I thought £65 million on Kai Havertz, a guy who previously the season before scored seven goals and got one assist, I said, ‘absolutely not, £65m? Come on’,” Bent said.

“But since then he has been given the confidence by Mikel Arteta and he has been to a point where… there’s an argument that he’s Arsenal’s most important player, and that includes [Bukayo] Saka in that as well.

“I think that’s maybe why Arsenal are reluctant to sign a centre forward because I just think Mikel Arteta understands how good he can be.


 

“And I think he can be a 15-20 goal a season player, I really do. But the thing his his ability is not limited to scoring goals, he can do everything.

“I think a huge credit has to go to Arteta and a huge credit goes to himself. When he came to Arsenal everyone was giving him stick, they gave him that ‘competition winner’ penalty against Bournemouth, they made him take it.

Kai Havertz celebrates a goal for Arsenal (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

“But since then… clearly he’s got real, strong self-belief, his teammates clearly believe in him, the manager has believed in him, all Arsenal fans now believe in him.”

Havertz scored in Arsenal’s 2-0 win over PSG earlier this week and one imagines there must be a fair few Chelsea fans who now regret the fact that their club let him go and join one of their biggest rivals.