William Gallas fears ‘something is very wrong’ with Arsenal summer signing Kai Havertz following Germany’s decision to deploy him as a left-back against Turkey last weekend.
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Eyebrows were raised when Mikel Arteta opted to spend £65million on a player who had spent three largely underwhelming seasons at Chelsea under a succession of managers.
Havertz has endured a difficult start to his Gunners career and appears ill-suited to the left eight position he had originally been identified to fill following the departure of Granit Xhaka.
Despite his struggles at club level, Havertz has remained a mainstay of the German national team but was given an unusual role by Julian Nagelsmann during Saturday’s Euro 2024 qualifier.
The decision initially looked as though it would be vindicated when Havertz opened the scoring during the early stages but it was his foul that allowed Turkey to seal a memorable win from the penalty spot with 20 minutes remaining.
Julian Nagelsmann indicated his Havertz experiment might not be a one-off but Gallas has accused the former Bayern Munich boss of disrespecting a player who already appeared to be suffering a crisis of confidence.
The former Arsenal defender told Genting Casino: ‘At twenty-four, Kai Havertz is playing as a left back four his country? Seriously? Something is very wrong.
‘I don’t know what to say about this. For me, to make this decision, it seems like Nagelsmann doesn’t respect Havertz as a player. Havertz has spent his entire career playing as an attacking player and then you put him in at left back?
‘I really don’t know what to say about this decision…. I’m completely confused. I’m trying to think about it from the player’s point-of-view…this doesn’t look good. I don’t like this decision from the manager. This is a complete lack of respect from the manager.’
And while Gallas sypmpathises for Havertz, he believes the 24-year-old, who is yet to score from open play this season, was always destined to flop at Arsenal.
He added: ‘I said at the beginning of the season that Kai Havertz would struggle for Arsenal. I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but he is still struggling. I think it was always going to be difficult for Havertz to adapt to the way that Arsenal play and the way that Mikel Arteta wants to use him.
‘I don’t think he was the type of player that Arsenal needed to sign in the summer. When you look at the squad, in my opinion, there were different types of players that they should have prioritised. It looks like it was a mistake to sign him.’
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