28 February 2024 , 08:49
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William Gallas is yet to be sold on Kai Havertz and his goal-scoring exploits despite the German beginning to find his feet at Arsenal.
The Gunners signed Havertz from Chelsea for £65million in the summer but he endured a slow start to life at the Emirates. Questions continue to be asked about his best position whilst he took several games to score his first goal for Arsenal, which came from the spot at Bournemouth.
He's since begun adding more value and has notched seven times this term, which includes a late winner at Brentford earlier this season. Gallas though believes, given the money he cost, the German has to be scoring at least 15 times this term and isn't convincing he'll hit that number.
He told Lord Ping: "At the beginning, I didn’t understand why Arsenal signed him. We were talking about players that are moving from one English club to another, Kai Havertz from Chelsea to Arsenal, normally he shouldn’t need time to adapt, like Declan Rice.
"Even though he’s scored in his last few games, I’m not convinced he’ll have a great season. What is a great season for him? Last season, he scored 7 goals for Chelsea. This season, I don’t know how many goals he’ll score but for the price they bought him, he has to score 15 goals this season, but I don’t think he’ll score that many goals this season."
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Havertz's most productive season in front of goal since moving to England in 2020 is 14, which he produced in his second campaign at Chelsea. The German has shown himself to be fruitful in front of goal previously, scoring 38 times in his final two seasons with Bayer Leverkusen.
The 24-year-old has started in 18 of Arsenal's 26 league games, coming off the bench in seven more as he continues to retain the faith of manager Mikel Arteta.
Kai Havertz scored against Newcastle at the weekendHavertz has confessed that his confidence has been aided by finding the net. “Your confidence always goes high when you score and contribute," he said. "That’s the same with me, I’m happy and now it’s about being consistent with it, regularly week-by-week, and trying to keep that form going."
Arsenal's lack of a prolific goalscorer has been cited as a potential issue that could hamper their title ambitions. Bukayo Saka is the only man to hit double figures in the league so far.
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