Havertz likened to De Bruyne as ex-Chelsea star slams worrying ‘pattern’ in ‘developing’ players | OneFootball

Kai Havertz celebrates winning the Champions League with Chelsea.

Kai Havertz’s move to Arsenal could be another mistake made by Chelsea after Mohamed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne took their games to another level after leaving Stamford Bridge, says Florent Malouda.

Arsenal paid a reported £65million to land the German international from their London rivals, with the transfer becoming official on Wednesday evening.

Real Madrid had shown an interest in Havertz before the Gunners joined the race, much to the surprise of the club’s supporters.

The transfer has certainly raised a few eyebrows, but Mikel Arteta has earned the right to be trusted in this situation given his incredible development of Granit Xhaka, Martin Odegaard, and many more players.

Havertz was utilised as a striker at Stamford Bridge, which is clearly not where he thrives. Following the announcement of the signing, Arteta said the 24-year-old can help improve his midfield, and being told he will play in that position was reportedly a key reason why the player chose to join Arsenal.

Former Chelsea winger Malouda has compared the sale of Havertz to when De Bruyne and Salah left the club in 2014 and 2016, respectively.

Salah played 19 times for the Blues and spent time on loan with Italian sides Fiorentina and Roma before permanently joining the latter. He then signed for Liverpool and the rest is history, as they say.

De Bruyne, on the other hand, was sold to Wolfsburg after making a measly nine appearances for the Premier League side.

Like Salah, the Belgian playmaker returned to England, joining Manchester City, and has established himself as one of the best players in the world, and arguably the best in his position.

And Malouda is concerned this worrying “pattern” will continue following Havertz’s big-money move to Arsenal.

The Frenchman says there should be concerns at the club over their inability to develop young players and thinks Havertz’s departure “underlines” the problems Chelsea need to fix.

“I think that the people that are associated to Chelsea need to look in the mirror because we’ve seen his kind of thing happen repeatedly at the club over the last few seasons, it is almost like a pattern,” Malouda told Genting Casino.

“Chelsea can always attract the best talent in the world at an early age and sometimes we fail to give these players a proper development plan.

“Havertz is not in his prime yet. He won the Champions League and is a big player in the German national team, so you can’t question his quality, but there has been a frustration with his performances at Chelsea.

“The bigger picture is that he is not the only player to have suffered or performed inconsistently at Chelsea and his form mirrors that of the club.

“Whenever a player leaves, you always wish them well, but his departure underlines why Chelsea need to fix the problems they have when it comes to developing players.

“We’ve seen some brilliant players that were there go to other clubs and shine, the prime examples being Kevin De Bruyne and Mo Salah.

“De Bruyne has just won the treble. I wish he was at Chelsea to win the treble, but if you asked him if he wanted to go back, he would say no. That is something that needs to be resolved.

“Chelsea is an attractive club, but players have flourished when they’ve left for lots of different reasons. This is a problem that needs to be fixed.”