William Gallas ‘not convinced’ by in-form Arsenal star

William Gallas is yet to be convinced by Kai Havertz despite his impressive form for Arsenal (Picture: Getty)

William Gallas is yet to be fully convinced by Mikel Arteta’s plan for Kai Havertz, despite the former Chelsea star’s impressive run of form.

Arsenal spent £65million on the Germany international in the summer and he initially struggled to justify his fee and win over his new fans.

Gradually, Havertz has begun to establish himself as a key component in Arsenal’s starting XI, whether it be in midfield or the false nine role he excelled in on Saturday as the Gunners crushed Newcastle 4-1 at the Emirates.

Despite now having scored seven goals in all competitions, Gallas isn’t yet sold on the suggestion he has become integral to Arteta’s style of play.

The former Arsenal and Chelsea defender 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?

Kai Havertz was on the scoresheet again as Arsenal thrashed Newcastle last weekend (Picture: Getty)

‘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.’

Undoubtedly over the last few weeks, Arsenal have looked a more potent force with Havertz in the team with the goals starting to flow following a drought over the festive period.

‘The team is hitting form, we are in a good moment, the players individually are performing,’ confirmed Arteta after the win against Newcastle.

‘It’s not any secret things are flowing at the moment, we are scoring goals in various ways, and we want more. We score one and we want to go for the second and third and the fourth one and I love that mentality from the team.

‘We have to do that (finish off games), because we won a lot of games last year, and this year when we deserved more and we generated more, I think today it could’ve been much more as well, but we have to demand ourselves that.’

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