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Arsenal have confirmed the signing of German attacker Kai Havertz from Chelsea on a reported five-year contract.
The 24-year-old – who will wear the number 29 shirt in North London – becomes the Gunners’ first arrival of the summer window in a £65m deal, £62m of which will be paid upfront with a further £3m in performance-related add-ons.
“It’s super exciting for me to be joining this amazing club and to be part of the Arsenal family. This club has such a big history, and I hope we can achieve lots of things,” Havertz told arsenal.com.
“The mentality in the Arsenal squad is very high and you can feel that. That was one of the reasons why it has been so hard to play against Arsenal recently.
“The aim is to win trophies and I’m going to give everything to do that for the supporters and everyone at the club. I’m now looking forward to meeting all the players and the staff when we come back for pre-season.”
Havertz arrives in North London on the back of a mixed three-year spell with Chelsea, during which he won the Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup, scoring the winning goal in the final of the former competition in 2021.
The ex-Bayer Leverkusen protege registered a total of 32 goals and 15 assists in 139 matches for the Blues, ending the 2022-23 season as their top Premier League goalscorer with seven strikes.
While Havertz was often deployed at the tip of Chelsea’s attack, manager Mikel Arteta has confirmed that he plans to use the Germany international in a deeper role as part of Arsenal’s midfield overhaul.
“Kai is a player of top quality. He has great versatility and is an intelligent player. He will bring a huge amount of extra strength to our midfield and variety to our play,” Arteta added.
“We welcome Kai and his family to Arsenal Football Club and we are all excited to start working with him when we start pre-season training soon.”
Sporting director Edu also hailed Havertz’s versatility, having witnessed the 24-year-old operate as a number nine, number 10, right winger and central midfielder during the earliest stages of his career.
“We’re excited to bring Kai to the club and great work by everyone to get this deal complete. Kai is an exciting addition to our squad, who will bring great attacking quality and versatility,” Edu added.
“As an experienced 24-year-old, his signing represents another important step in strengthening our young core of talented players we have at Arsenal. We look forward to working with Kai.”
Following confirmation of Havertz’s signing, Arsenal are now set to prioritise their pursuit of West Ham United’s Declan Rice and are believed to have had a £105m bid accepted by their London rivals, although there are still issues to be ironed out over the payment structure.
The Gunners are also believed to be in advanced talks over the signing of Ajax defender Jurrien Timber, while Havertz’s arrival could open the door for Granit Xhaka to complete his proposed £13m move to Leverkusen.