Arsenal were given a glimpse of what they could have had this weekend as Tottenham’s James Maddison pulled the strings in a fine display for the visiting side at the Emirates Stadium.
The England international moved from Leicester City to Spurs for just £40million, as reported by BBC Sport at the time, but he had also been linked as someone Arsenal were keeping an eye on in previous reports from the Daily Mirror.
Instead, Arsenal signed Kai Havertz for a good £25m more than that, with the fee coming to around £65m (as per BBC Sport) for a player Chelsea surely couldn’t wait to get rid of – what exactly did Arsenal think they would be getting?
The Germany international is of course still settling at a new club, but so is Maddison, and his tally of two goals and four assists is two goals and four assists more than his Arsenal counterpart has so far this season.
Normally so shrewd with their business, with stars like Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli and William Saliba signed for relatively cheap, it’s very hard to get one’s head around what went wrong with Arsenal’s recruitment here. Havertz looks every bit the lost player who did precious little in three years at Chelsea, with even a tactical mastermind like Mikel Arteta no closer to seeming like he has an idea of his best position or how to get him back to the player we saw as a youngster at Bayer Leverkusen.
To pass on a talent like Maddison for £25m cheaper is unforgiveable, and he’s not even the only one who moved for more reasonable money this summer. Dominik Szoboszlai joined Liverpool for £60m (fee via BBC) and has been superb, while Alexis Mac Allister, albeit a slightly different kind of player, cost as little as £35m (fee via BBC).
A lot has gone wrong for Chelsea this season, much more so than at Arsenal, let’s be honest, but whoever negotiated that fee for Havertz deserves a raise!
Please Mr Arteta, you already made the error to sign this guy instead of Maddison. Right now, he is not psychologically prepared. JUST PLAY HIM FROM THE BENCH FOR NOW. GIVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO SMITH ROWE WHO HAS SHOWN HIS PROWESS IN THE PAST. We are struggling to score goals with Havertz on the pitch.
7 official matches and not even an assist!!! He may change in the future but stop embarassing him with starts right now.