Kai Havertz has said he watched Christos Tzolis three years before he arrived this summer as Arsenal's new signing
Kai Havertz has impressed in pre-season for Arsenal
Kai Havertz has impressed in pre-season for Arsenal
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Kai Havertz admitted to having watched Christos Tzolis three years before he arrived at Arsenal as their brand new summer signing. The Greek international scored on his debut against Girona on Saturday gaining plenty of plaudits for his performance.
Havertz also scored on the night as the Gunners made their preparations for the brand new campaign. They’re looking to defend their title for the first time since the 1930s having ended a 22-year wait for the crown.
So far the club has not done much new business, bringing in Tzolis and Illan Meslier, while Piero Hincapie’s move was made permanent. But Havertz was already aware of his new left-wing teammate for several years, having seen Tzolis impress during a loan spell at German outfit Fortuna Dusseldorf in the 2023-24 season.
“Yeah, so much potential and already so good, you know,” he said when asked on the Arsenal YouTube channel about the new signings. “And, I mean, especially like Christos, he played in Germany.
“I like to watch German football, and I saw him playing, and he was top there.”
It could be that Arsenal will yet sign more players this summer, with strong links to both Bruno Guimaraes and Vinicius Junior. Both Tzolis and Meslier come with Premier League experience, and Havertz says they have integrated seamlessly.
“You already see that they're both top guys, and they fit very well into our group. “Obviously, we try to make them feel welcome.
“But you saw straight away that it's very easy to come into that group of players and to have them both with us, still young, but already experienced players, and so much potential is obviously exciting.”
Havertz performed for Germany at the World Cup, which meant he missed the first week of the club’s summer training camp. He admitted that there was definitely an initial shock returning to training before reacclimatising to the demands.
“I think it's easier to come back because I feel it myself. Even though I was out [for] three weeks, to come back and then touch the ball again, you feel like, ‘Oh my God, I lost everything!’ the first few days.
“But then after it comes back and I think in three weeks you don't lose so much, you know, of course you need a bit of a top up. But when you have six, seven weeks off, I think it's much harder.
“But I felt good. And I think also the players that had a longer break, you know, they train for themselves with coaches and like their physios and stuff like that.
“So I think everyone is quite good. But of course, we still need a lot of work, and we've got a big season ahead of us.”