A proper Kai Havertz homecoming has been long overdue for Bayer Leverkusen.<\/p>\n
Their academy graduate left Germany just under six years ago, when the world was a very different place. In the midst of the Covid-19 outbreak, football had only returned in a behind-closed-doors capacity when Leverkusen\u2019s young star joined Chelsea in September 2020.<\/p>\n
It was a big deal. Havertz was one of Europe\u2019s hottest prospects towards the back-end of the 2010s \u2014 and Leverkusen knew it. The now 55-time Germany international had played four full seasons with their first team before his 21st birthday that June. He became the youngest player to reach 100 Bundesliga appearances at 20 years, six months and four days.<\/p>\n
Simon Rolfes, Leverkusen\u2019s managing director of sport, credited that sale, worth up to \u00a390million ($113.8m), for the restructuring of the squad that resulted in their 2023-24 Bundesliga title win.<\/p>\n
The former Leverkusen midfielder had a brief reunion with Havertz at a summer 2024 pre-season friendly in London and said before the Round of 16 draw that he wanted his side to draw Arsenal to see Havertz again. The 44-year-old got his wish, and\u00a0will now watch on as the 26-year-old attempts to have a more direct contribution to Arsenal\u2019s hopes of lifting their first major trophy since that behind-closed-doors FA Cup final defeat of Chelsea a month before the latter bought him.<\/p>\n
In his first years in England with Chelsea, when speaking about his and Mason Mount\u2019s respective roles, Havertz told The Athletic<\/em>: \u201cWe float around a little bit, we want to go on the left side and the right. We are like ghosts for some defenders \u2014 it\u2019s not easy to catch us.\u201d<\/p>\n He spoke about how he developed that ability in his pre-match press conference on the eve of the Leverkusen tie.\u00a0\u201cWhen I was an academy player I just played wherever the coach needed it to be,\u201d he said. \u201cSometimes obviously it\u2019s good, sometimes it\u2019s bad, but, honestly it\u2019s the truth: for me I don\u2019t mind, I just want to be a threat in the box, want to score goals, want to assist players, and I think that\u2019s also my biggest strength, to be present in the box.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I also played left-back for the national team, so I think there\u2019s not a lot of positions left anymore which I haven\u2019t played.\u201d<\/p>\n \n Havertz playing for Leverkusen in 2020 (Martin Meissner\/Pool via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n It has been a shame that Arsenal have not seen these qualities for the majority of this season.<\/p>\n Havertz has played just 363 minutes (nine per cent of those available) in 2025-26 because of two knee injuries before Christmas and a minor hamstring issue last month. Even with such limited exposure, his importance has shone through more often than not when on the pitch.<\/p>\n Mansfield Town away in the FA Cup on Saturday was his fourth start of the season, and the only one where his performance was not a blinding reminder of what manager Mikel Arteta has missed for 91 per cent of the season. The other three starts have come against Kairat, Sunderland and Leeds United. Including cameos off the bench, Havertz is up to 10 appearances for the campaign, and the most recent ones were critical to earning Arsenal crucial points.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2026\/03\/10095013\/GettyImages-1264331010-scaled.jpg\")
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