Kai Havertz is hoping to make a direct contribution to Arsenal’s ambitions of lifting their first major trophy since their FA Cup win. His former club, Bayer Leverkusen, hoped to draw Arsenal in the Champions League to see Havertz again.
Havertz’s Journey from Leverkusen to Arsenal
A proper Kai Havertz homecoming is due for Bayer Leverkusen. He departed from Germany nearly six years ago, joining Chelsea in September 2020.
Havertz was a highly-regarded prospect and Leverkusen knew it. Before turning 21, the Germany international had played four full seasons with their first team. He became the youngest player to reach 100 Bundesliga appearances at 20 years, six months and four days.
Leverkusen’s managing director of sport, Simon Rolfes, credited the sale of Havertz, worth up to £90million, for the restructuring of the squad that led to their 2023-24 Bundesliga title win.
Rolfes had a brief reunion with Havertz at a summer 2024 pre-season friendly in London and wanted his side to draw Arsenal to see Havertz again.
Versatility and Limited Game Time
Havertz spoke about his versatility. He said when he was an academy player he just played wherever the coach needed it to be. Havertz stated he doesn’t mind where he plays, he just wants to be a threat in the box, score goals and assist players and that he thinks that’s also his biggest strength, to be present in the box.
He also stated he played left-back for the national team.
Arsenal have not consistently seen these qualities this season.
Havertz has played just 363 minutes (nine per cent of those available) in 2025-26 because of two knee injuries before Christmas and a minor hamstring issue last month. Even with such limited exposure, his importance has shone through more often than not when on the pitch.
Mansfield Town away in the FA Cup was his fourth start of the season, and the only one where his performance was not a blinding reminder of what manager Mikel Arteta has missed for 91 per cent of the season. The other three starts have come against Kairat, Sunderland and Leeds United. Including cameos off the bench
“Like Ghosts for Some Defenders”
While at Chelsea, Havertz spoke about his and Mason Mount’s roles, saying: “We float around a little bit, we want to go on the left side and the right. We are like ghosts for some defenders — it’s not easy to catch us.”
The 26-year-old attempts to have a more direct contribution to Arsenal’s hopes of lifting their first major trophy since that behind-closed-doors FA Cup final defeat of Chelsea a month before the latter bought him.