Arsenal’s Kai Havertz has insisted he now sees himself as a number nine for club and country after playing in the role for Mikel Arteta’s side this season.
The German has been speaking to Welt am Sonntag, relayed by TZ, ahead of Euro 2024 in Germany this summer.
He will head into that tournament full of confidence after an impressive season with Arsenal in which he managed 14 goals and seven assists in 51 games in all competitions.
He joined the Gunners in a €75m deal from Chelsea in the summer and endured something of a rocky start to life at the Emirates as he adapted to his new team and Arteta’s system.
Things soon turned around for him, though, and he quickly became a key component of the side that challenged Manchester City for the title again.
A part of that was his continued development into more of a traditional number nine, which had started at Chelsea but has really flourished since joining Arsenal. And the player himself now admits he sees himself as a striker, although not one in the traditional sense.
“I clearly see myself as a number 9 in the national team – and that’s what I am now at Arsenal,” he said.
“But I don’t mean the classic nine. Where else are they available? Even Erling Haaland or Harry Kane, who you immediately think of, don’t just stand in the box and wait for the finish. The players who are waiting there no longer exist in modern football.
“I am someone who enjoys letting go and making deep runs. But it is also clear to me that I will be measured by goals.”
While things are going well for Havertz now, his time in England so far has not been the continued success he would have hoped for after arriving from Germany.
He joined Chelsea with a glowing reputation in 2020 but struggled to impress at the club and left with a tally of 32 goals and 12 assists in 139 games, although one of them was the strike that won the Champions League.
He faced criticism throughout his time at Stamford Bridge and did so again during his early struggles at Arsenal, something he admits had him longing for a different life.
“Sometimes I think to myself that I would rather be a student who lives in a cool city and lives his life,” he added.
“But that usually goes away pretty quickly because I love playing football. The hustle and bustle around it is part of it. That’s fun too; “Of course, more when things are going well.
“And if that’s not the case, things go extremely wrong. Then you are devastated and exhausted because there is ridicule and criticism. But I can now deal with it very well and try to live my life as normally as possible.”
