This Arsenal star disappointed boss Mikel Arteta when he first arrived at the Emirates Stadium but appears to have turned a corner with his game
Kai Havertz surprised Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta with his poor discipline upon joining the club. But the German seems to have heeded his manager's warning and has made improvements.
The Gunners are into only their second-ever Champions League final after defeating Atletico Madrid on Tuesday night 1-0. Havertz, whose goal won Chelsea the competition in 2021, was restricted to the bench and his season has been disjointed to say the least.
With Viktor Gyokeres signed in the summer, Havertz was always going to see his playing time reduced but injuries have not helped matters. In August, he suffered a serious knee issue that kept him out of action for over four months, missing 32 games. He returned in January but has been struggling with hamstring problems since and underwent more surgery.
But amid these injury troubles, an improvement in his self-control seems present. This comes after Arteta warned Havertz that he needed to cut down on the number of bookings he was receiving.
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In his first full season as a Gunner, Havertz picked up 14 yellow cards, including 11 in the Premier League. He ended the campaign as Arsenal's most-booked player in the top flight and served a suspension after he accumulated five.
This led to Arteta speaking out and in 2024 he said: "We'll have to improve because we don't want our players having that many because we are the best in the league for that. It's something to improve."
Since then, Havertz has only been booked eight times across two seasons. Last term, he was shown only seven yellow cards, including five in the Premier League across 23 appearances.
In this campaign, although he has played just 20 times, Havertz has been shown only one yellow card. Clearly, he has adjusted his game as requested by his manager. Speaking in March, Havertz admitted that while this injury-ridden term has been tough, he is keen to help his team-mates in any way he can during the run-in.
"I think we all know this season was not what I expected it to be, but I always think that things happen for a reason, and now I'm back and I feel good, and I'm happy to help the team again," he said.
"It has been stop-start, but sometimes football is like this. I haven't really faced a challenge like this before in my career, so I just tried to give everything to be back as soon as I could.
"Now I'm just happy to be back and be here and help the team. For me it was just tough, because I never felt that pain before in my life and it just came randomly, but I tried to go through these things.
"Obviously I got my support at home. My family helped me a lot during that time. Having two surgeries after another is not easy, but I think I'm professional enough to know that this is also part of football sometimes.
"I know that there are so many players out there that went through stages of their career also. And I think I'm still young, so I've got a lot of years hopefully in front of me."
Yupabklort
1
sell him fast this summer.