Kai Havertz breaks Arsenal records amid injury transformation | OneFootball

Kai Havertz has undergone a physical transformation during his time out injured, according to Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.

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Arsenal have been without Kai Havertz for the last few months of football, which has been a significant absence. The 25-year-old suffered a hamstring injury in February, and the Gunners have seen their Premier League and Champions League trophy hopes end without him.

Havertz had 20 goals and assists in 34 games for Arsenal before his injury, and he’ll have the chance to add to that if he can make his on-field comeback in the final couple of games of the Premier League campaign.

Those odds received a significant boost on Wednesday, when he stepped out in front of supporters at the Emirates Stadium for an open training session, rejoining full training.

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Speaking about Havertz’s time out on Friday, Mikel Arteta revealed that the player has been making very good use of the last few months.

“There’s been a transformation in his body,” Arteta said. “The last three years in his career have been so condensed that he hasn’t had time to do that and this has been a window and he really wanted to use it.

“To be fair, the staff and how they have explained the opportunity that is within with his physique to go to a different level and the things that he can improve and it can even help him mentally as well as being more effective as a player.

“He got on board with that, he worked hard, got on board with that, you can see his presence and I think he destroyed all the metrics that we had in the gym for the last ten years.

“All of them. Power, acceleration, muscle mass, the way that he has increased certain capacities in his body, his agility, he’s been incredible. I was talking to the medical staff the other day and they were talking about that.”

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In the short term, Arsenal will just be glad to have a striker in the squad again. Mikel Merino has done a good job filling in, but the Gunners have certainly felt the absences of both Havertz and Gabriel Jesus.

After that, it will be great news for the club if Havertz has raised his level and made himself ready to compete with a likely centre-forward signing this summer.