Kai Havertz struggled to adapt to life at Arsenal following his £65m switch, but after three goals in his last five outings, is the German proving he is the all-action midfielder Mikel Arteta thought he was getting after all?

It's hard to think of a transfer in recent years that has raised as many questions as Kai Havertz's brief jump from west to north London last summer.

There were many skeptics wondering: Are Arsenal buying a Chelsea flop? Additionally, there was concern about whether he was still making fun of the gummy bears at halftime. And of course the repeated cries of “how much?!”.

Let's be honest: his time at Stamford Bridge was subpar. A tendency to score goals in major finals overshadowed a poor showing of 32 goals and 15 assists in 139 appearances in blue after signing for £89m.

In his defense, Havertz always struggled to make statements when he played a different role each week, and there's a pretty good argument along those lines that he was a victim of his own versatility.

At Chelsea he played 65 percent of his minutes as a striker, in what quickly became a rudderless mess by the end of his three years. The fact that his 0.39 expected goals and 0.29 actual goals per 90 in the Premier League ranked third highest during his time at the club speaks volumes.

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He was also hardly tearing up trees when he first arrived at the Emirates Stadium, but a player of his ilk needs more time to get used to the movement and flow of a team than most players; he must learn to weave his own

But that brings us to the most important question of all – and one we may now have an answer to: What exactly is Kai Havertz?

A cursory look at his numbers is enough to tell you that he is not a striker, contrary to Chelsea's stubborn intentions, while he does not have enough speed and guile to be a wide striker, nor the frame or the physicality of a deeper player. midfielder.

At Bayer Leverkusen – where he came to prominence as a truly terrifying talent – ​​he played in eight different positions, but usually as a central attacking midfielder, driving from deep to goal, rather than being the sole outlet up top.

That's a good starting point, one that Mikel Arteta clearly understood from the start, and he has resisted the urge not to play him as a No. 9, much to his team's benefit.

Arsenal fans might be forgiven for thinking they would enter the market to replace the reinforced Granit Xhaka, who was robbed of a fairytale ending to his north London makeover.

Instead, they may have wondered why they had spent £65 million on a second number 10, despite captain Martin Odegaard certainly keeping an iron grip on that role.

The truth is that Havertz is neither a No. 10 nor a No. 8 – nor even a No. 9 or No. 6 – which the German does better than most doesn't really have a number.

The 24-year-old's heat map shows how dominant he is at both ends of the pitch, much like a traditional box-to-box midfielder might be, while his attacking movement is concentrated in the left third of the pitch. similar to a mezzala.

But unlike either role, he arrives late in the penalty area and, as a deep-lying striker, causes chaos in and around the penalty area, adding extra confusion to the not-so-simple task of defining the German star.

But one thing is certain; he improves Arsenal. He pushes them to the forefront with an average of 6.2 forward passes per game, and his five goals and one assist in all competitions highlight a growing influence in the Gunners' attack following his break-in period.

This season the Gunners have received a lot of praise for being harder to break down, albeit a little less flashy in attack, and again a big part of that is down to the introduction of Havertz into midfield.

Defensively, he is a crucial midfield obstacle for any team looking to attack Arsenal on the counter, with a per-game average of 1.2 tackles, 0.5 interceptions, 2.9 recoveries and 4.5 games won.

Only one attacking midfielder from all the current top six sides has more expected goals than Havertz's 0.37 (Cody Gakpo has 0.4), and only four have attempted more shots – and interestingly, none of them have beaten his four league goals.

With his height of 1.93 meters he is also a tall appearance. With his size, it doesn't really matter how much meat is on his bones, because it takes a lot to get him moving.

But more importantly, he provides the Gunners with an outlet under the high ball and is yet another bulldozer to try and stop from set pieces.

Furthermore, the fact that he can play in a number of positions is a huge boon for Arteta, who wants to compete on three fronts and go deep in the Champions League.

An injury to Jesus? Suddenly there is a third option after Eddie Nketiah. Odegaard not available? There is your number 10 in the queue. With the back against the wall? He can drop deeper and act as a more traditional No. 8 to close out the win.

His versatility, while something that has hampered his progress at Chelsea, has been handled with more freedom to influence the game however he feels at the time, rather than restricting him to one particular role for the entire match.

For someone who seems so graceful in possession, there is a tenacity in Havertz's running, which saw him finish second in the entire league last season for total runs (1021), runs in the box (313) and targeted runs in the box (116).

Then there are the more intangible qualities that he brings to the table. Havertz has already shown off one of the new strings he is adding to Arteta's bow, swapping the top with Jesus with balletic ease, and he has an Aaron Ramsey-like ability to arrive late in the box.

One by one, Havertz appears to be shaking off the questions surrounding his arrival this summer, and is fast becoming one of the Gunners' key figures in their battle for the English crown.

No one has played more for Arsenal this season than the German. In fact, he is the only player to have played in all the club's matches in all competitions.

Arteta's faith in his new signing has restored the confidence he had during his rise to Bayer Leverkusen. Flashes of the freedom and joy he used to play with can be seen in the Emirates.

As a result, he's already becoming a fan favorite; loving choruses of '£65m down the drain, Kai Havertz scores again' can be heard with increasing regularity across north London, providing a fitting soundtrack to the German's revival under Arteta.

He isn't there as a back-up to Odegaard, to replace Xhaka, or even to compete with Jesus, because he can't quite do what the Arsenal stars past and present can do.

Havertz is unique in his own way, and just as he may not be able to repeat their performances, neither can they fill his own boots in an Arsenal side he is undoubtedly improving.