Arsenal fans 'wish' they signed Maddison instead of Kai Havertz at the Emirates

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·26 September 2023

Arsenal fans 'wish' they signed Maddison instead of Kai Havertz at the Emirates

Highlights

Arsenal fans may be disappointed that Kai Havertz was chosen over James Maddison, but Arteta still believes in the German's versatility and potential.
Havertz's lack of goals and assists at Arsenal mirrors his performance at Chelsea, raising questions about his impact in a variety of roles.
If Havertz continues to struggle, Fabio Vieira could replace him, offering a different option for Arteta seeing as he has already contributed two assists in the Premier League.

Arsenal star Kai Havertz has struggled to hit a stable run of form since his arrival in north London and journalist Paul Brown, while speaking to GIVEMESPORT, has suggested their fans may be disheartened they didn’t sign another midfield ace instead.

The versatile German has been unable to cement a starting role for Gunners chief Mikel Arteta since his arrival.

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Eyebrows were certainly raised when Arteta identified a player – earmarked to replace Granit Xhaka - who had blown hot and cold during a topsy-turvy three-year stint in west London. In six Premier League outings with his new employers, the 24-year-old has failed to pick up neither a goal nor an assist – but that return just mirrors that of his Chelsea career.

At Stamford Bridge, he scored 32 goals and notched 15 assists in 139 games and given that he was playing in the centre-forward berth, those numbers are not exactly ground-breaking. On the back of his insipid start to his Arsenal days, Graeme Souness has slammed Arteta’s decision to splash the cash on the former Chelsea man, while speaking to MailOnline.

“Not all of Arsenal’s spending makes sense to me. They’ve laid out £65m on Kai Havertz. Surely, you’re not spending that kind of money on what he’s shown at Chelsea in the past three seasons? “They’ve shelled out in the hope that Mikel Arteta can get a very, very different tune out of him than Frank Lampard, Thomas Tuchel or Graham Potter ever did. Good luck with that one, Mikel.”

James Maddison, on the other hand, who was available to purchase at the time the north Londoners opted for Havertz, has taken the Premier League by storm at his new club.

Ange Postecoglou has taken Maddison under his wing after forking out £40m for his signature but even in the absence of the free-scoring Harry Kane, the 26-year-old England international has become Spurs’ chief creator. The Coventry-born gem has racked up a goal involvement for every Premier League played thus far, scoring two and an additional four assists, per Transfermarkt.

What did Paul Brown say about Arsenal and Kai Havertz?

When quizzed whether Arsenal will be regretting opting for Havertz over Maddison, journalist Brown claimed that, even if Arteta is still holding on, many supporters will be disheartened by the club’s poor decision-making.

“I think there might be some Arsenal fans who probably wish they’d signed James Maddison instead of Kai Havertz. But I don’t think Mikel Arteta will. I think he still believes in Havertz, and he bought him because he can play in more roles than Maddison can. I’m still not entirely sure where Havertz is going to slot into this Arsenal team and what his best position is, and I’m not sure that Arteta really is either. He talked about rotating him and using him in different roles at the start of the season and that he was comfortable in doing that. We might see that continue.”

What other decisions does Mikel Arteta have to make?

Should Havertz continue to struggle in north London, Fabio Vieira could come in to replace the German. Although transfer insider Dean Jones suggested to GIVEMESPORT that Arsenal are ‘not the same team’ when Vieira was present ahead of Xhaka, he has now recently told GMS that he is now a ‘completely different player’.

The Portuguese midfielder offers a completely different option for the Spaniard; but, more importantly, he has provided two assists in four Premier League appearances in 2023/24. Vieira has now been placed alongside Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard in his side’s previous two domestic fixtures and, despite Brown recently telling GIVEMESPORT that his starting spot should be safe for now, he cannot be so sure.

David Raya’s arrival to north London has thrown a spanner in the works for Aaron Ramsdale, a keeper who was heavily influential in Arsenal’s impressive 2022/23 campaign. The former Sheffield United and Bournemouth stopper has found himself benched for matches against Everton, PSV and Tottenham, despite playing every single game of the 2022/23 Premier League season.

A goalkeeper of Rasmdale’s ilk will not want to continue warming the bench and could actively look for a way out of the unfavourable predicament he currently finds himself in if he is unable to dislodge Raya, who has impressed in the early stages of his north London career.