Arsenal will probably be regretting their decision to sign Kai Havertz over James Maddison.
That is the view of journalist Dean Jones, who believes Mikel Arteta will be ruing the missed opportunity to sign Maddison from Leicester City.
In addition to bringing in Declan Rice from West Ham for a reported club-record fee, Arteta also signed Havertz from London rivals Chelsea for a reported £65 million (Sky Sports) this summer.
While the German had, and still has, the potential to be a good player for the Gunners, an underwhelming start to the season has piled the pressure on the former Bayer Leverkusen star.
And not only does Havertz, who is being played as a central midfielder, now have several critics to prove wrong, but Maddison’s impressive start to life as a Spurs player following his shrewd £40 million transfer from Leicester City has further highlighted the German’s poor form, and Jones thinks the divide is big enough to make Arteta regret his decision.
“Arsenal thought they got a very smart deal out of Havertz and they couldn’t believe really, they had the opportunity to sign who they saw as well, Chelsea’s best players,” Jones told GiveMeSport.
“But you look at it now and obviously, in hindsight, you would rather have James Maddison in your team, than Havertz. I’m not sure how realistic Maddison was, but obviously, he was on the transfer market and he was available at a very reasonable fee.
“So you look at it in broad daylight, and you think Arsenal could have got him. They’ve now made a mistake really by not getting him and allowing him to go to their north London rivals. I mean, we’ll see but if Maddison ends up being the difference between these two sides when they meet at the weekend, then there will be some regrets I think around Arsenal that they didn’t push harder to get that deal done. But as I say at the time, they really felt that Havertz was a great signing.”
Here is how the two players compare after the first five games of the new Premier League season:
Maddison
Started – 5
Goals – 2
Assists – 2
Havertz
Started – 4
Goals – 0
Assists – 0
Maddison is nothing special either….