Mikel Arteta has launched a staunch defence of Kai Havertz and insists his new-look midfield possesses the physical qualities required to thrive in the Premier League.
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The Arsenal manager’s decision to spend £65million on the Germany international, who largely underwhelmed during three turbulent years at Chelsea, raised eyebrows, even before details of his plan to deploy Havertz as Granit Xhaka’s replacement emerged.
Arsenal fans were given a first glimpse of Arteta’s midfield blueprint against Manchester United on Saturday night and it became immediately evident that it would take time for the trio of Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard and Havertz to gel.
Arteta, however, is confident Havertz will prove a more than shrewd addition and that with the likes of Thomas Partey, Jorginho and Mohamed Elneny in the squad Arsenal possess more than enough options to cope with physical opponents.
‘We’re going to have to find the right balance as well, but a year ago Granit could never play that as an attacking midfielder,’ said Arteta ahead of tomorrow night’s pre-season friendly against Barcelona.
‘So let’s try to get the work done. It’s the first time we played with four players inside, and three of them had never played for us.
‘So three out of four, they never played together ever. So, tranquilo! Day-by-day, keep doing the right things, give people opportunity to settle them into the right things and we will be fine. You use a word that is ‘physical’.
‘So if I put Granit and Kai and I ask you who is more physical? What would you say?
‘Kai is one metre 91, so it depends what you mean physical. Physical is (also) to run, running behind the forward, to tackle.
‘It depends. So we will fit in with the qualities that we have, that’s for sure. And the good thing is that we have options as well.
‘When we have a game that is more physical, we can become very physical as well. We have the right options.’
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