Mikel Arteta has spoken for the first time since Arsenal confirmed the £65 million signing of Kai Havertz. The German forward has signed a long-term deal at the Emirates Stadium and becomes the first new arrival of the summer. Havertz completed his medical tests ahead of a move to Arsenal last week before his announcement was leaked across social media. The Germany international took to social media to pen an emotional letter to Blues supporters as he confirmed his exit from Stamford Bridge before Arsenal confirmed the deal.
Kai Havertz wrote: “I would have preferred for you to hear my thoughts on leaving Chelsea first from myself before my thoughts on me joining my new team. This isn’t my style and it upsets me that you had to hear of it in this way. I write this letter with a heavy heart to all the fans. A big thank you for all your support, we achieved a dream of winning the Champions League together!”
Arsenal Sporting Director Edu Gaspar, meanwhile,
Edu Gaspar said: “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. 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.”
Mikel Arteta added: “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. 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.”
Kai Havertz himself said: “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. 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 is likely to be joined by Declan Rice and Jurrien Timber as Arsenal continue to push for both players’ signatures.
