You don’t have to talk to many at Bayer Leverkusen before you find someone with a very, very good word to say about Kai Havertz. Arsenal’s star forward is arguably the greatest product of an academy that has developed a great many impressive players given the almighty scrap for youth talent between the super clubs of the Rhineland.
Many of Havertz’s records and achievements may have been eclipsed by Florian Wirtz, the star man in Leverkusen’s undefeated title-winning domestic season and then their record sale, but the latter was a Koln boy snared months before his Bundesliga debut.
Havertz was a Leverkusen boy from 11 years of age, this is a club that saw him, quite literally. As a 15-year-old, Havertz, whose strength, size and technique make him so adored by Mikel Arteta, seemed a little undersized, too easily brushed off the ball to be trusted with the start in the youth teams. There were literal growing pains that the academy staff at the Bay Arena shepherded him through and that is not something he has forgotten. Before moving to Arsenal in 2023, Havertz was in touch with some of his former academy mentors to pick their brains and understand how they thought he should develop in north London.
When Leverkusen post “welcome home” on social media, it is done so with sincerity. Havertz fought his way into the first team, delivered exceptional moments over 150 games and earned them the best part of $100 million. That the COVID-19 pandemic raged when Chelsea dropped the big bucks for one of the most coveted youngsters in European football meant that there was no chance to say goodbye to Havertz. Before the draw, Simon Rolfes must have been the only sporting director in Europe wanting to end up on Arsenal’s path to the Champions League final, “then we could finally say goodbye to Kai at our stadium.”
It will be a similarly special moment for Havertz but don’t expect him to go easy on his former employers.
“It is amazing [to be back], I have seen a lot of familiar faces,” he said. “It feels like yesterday I was here but it was six years ago. I played here for 10 years. I am here to win the match with Arsenal and fly back home with the victory. My family will be here; my son, my wife have come from England.”
Havertz’s return comes at an intriguing moment for the German’s future role in the Arsenal team. When he left Chelsea, Havertz had been worn down by years in the spotlight and the institutional crisis at Stamford Bridge, his adaptation all the harder in the midst of a pandemic. On the eve of what would be the finest moment of his career — his winner in the Champions League final — he told CBS Sports that parts of his first season had felt like he was playing with “a big backpack on my shoulders.” When he moved from west London to north, he knew he didn’t want to be a center forward anymore.
Nor did Arteta want him to be, at least initially. But then Havertz was an ill-fit for what was then the Granit Xhaka role (another man who would be welcomed with open arms at the Bay Arena). What he proved himself to be was a very good fit as the sort of mobile, duel-winning false nine that seemed the best fit for Arsenal. In the calendar year 2024, there weren’t many better in Europe’s top five leagues.
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Then came the injuries, first a serious tear of his hamstring and then a horribly jarred knee on the opening day of the season.
“For me, it was just tough because I never felt that pain before in my life and it just came randomly,” said Havertz on Tuesday. “I tried to go through these things and obviously I got my support from at home as well and my family. You know, that helped me a lot during that time.
“Having two surgeries one after another is not easy. But I think I’m professional enough to know that’s also part of football sometimes. And I know that there are so many players out there that went through stages of their career also. I’m still young, so I have a lot of years hopefully in front of me.”
Havertz has now had three weeks of what Arteta termed “total consistency in terms of training, preparation and gametime” after the sort of muscle issue that often rears its head when players return from lengthy spells on the sideline. When he has played, though, he has excelled, and often in a role that will be very familiar to the Bay Arena. With Viktor Gyokeres on the upswing and Martin Odegaard sidelined, Havertz has been deployed as the sort of playmaking second striker that he was in a Leverkusen shirt. He has swiftly looked at ease, forming a nice tandem with Gyokeres in victories over Kairat and Sunderland.
A Champions League round of 16 tie is naturally a step up in importance but Leverkusen and Arsenal, to say nothing of Chelsea, know only too well that Havertz has a habit of delivering in the big moments.
Bayer Leverkusen vs. Arsenal viewing information
- Date: Wednesday, March 11 | Time: 1:45 p.m. ET
- Location: Bay Arena — Leverkusen, Germany
- Live stream: Paramount+
- Odds: Bayer Leverkusen +480; Draw +300; Arsenal -182
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