Arsenal had quite a headache with problems in attack throughout the first half of the season.

Mikel Arteta alternated using Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah as number 9 but neither of them could meet expectations.

Jesus linked the play well but showed a lack of sharpness in finishing and was often injured. Meanwhile, Nketiah is only considered a less complete version of the Samba striker.

Therefore, after witnessing the poor performance of the above duo, especially in the late 2023 period, Arsenal even considered adding a striker a top priority in the summer transfer period.

However, coach Arteta found a solution to help them solve this headache early by pushing Kai Havertz from position 8 to the highest position in attack.

The Spanish captain wants Havertz to fill the void left by Granit Xhaka, after recruiting him from Chelsea. However, despite a lot of tweaking, the contract worth 65 million pounds still did not achieve the expected effect.

Therefore, Arteta decided to return Havertz to the position he once held at the Blues. In fact, Havertz will play in a hybrid style between number 9 and number 10.

He often stands on par with Martin Odegaard to create the first pressing layer, and the abundant energy of the above duo creates a lot of pressure for opponents every time they encounter Arsenal.

In situations where the ball is involved, thanks to Kai Havertz ‘s good wall-building ability, Arsenal can easily perform overlapping situations when the German player becomes the transfer point for the ball to the wings.

After that, he himself, with his impressive height (1m93) and the ability to choose a smart position, will enter the penalty area and catch crosses.

Although there are still shortcomings when handling the ball not really neatly and also quite often receiving a penalty card because of somewhat clumsy tackles, in general, Havertz has done well in the task assigned by Arteta.

With the contributions that the 24-year-old star brings, Arsenal’s transfer plan also has a major shift.

Initially, they aimed to recruit strikers who had proven themselves like Victor Osimhen or Ivan Toney, because Arsenal needed to make a big difference in attack. However, at the present time, they will target young players with great development potential, typically the cases of Joshua Zirkzee and Viktor Gyokeres.

At the age of 24, Havertz can still maintain his form for a relatively long time, which opens up opportunities for the new contract to imbibe the philosophy that Arteta sets out.