Arsenal first bid for Kai Havertz and seen the offer rejected, which may be a good thing in the eyes of one former Gunners star.
Ray Parlour has publicly questioned why his old side are pursuing the Germany international, Kai Havertz. This being that he has struggled to truly settle during his three years at Stamford Bridge. Havertz was a regular in a Blues side that endured one of the worst campaigns in their modern history last term.
However, Gunners manager Mikel Arteta clearly sees something within the former Bayer Leverkusen ace that he likes. So much so that he offered a rumoured £50million for the 24-year-old. Though, it is widely believed Chelsea will not accept anything less than £60m.
With that in mind, Arsenal will be well aware of Chelsea’s perilous financial fair play situation which requires them to offload talent before June 30.
Arteta may try to simply bide his time before striking the Gunners’ London rivals when they are at their most vulnerable.
If it were up to Parlour though, Arsenal would scrap their efforts to sign Havertz entirely.
“You need an out and out goal-scorer, if you’re Arsenal, the Highbury hero said. “They’ve got so much good back-up play behind the striker. But they need someone to put the ball in the net”.
“For me, I don’t think that’s the right signing. But obviously Edu and Mikel Arteta will be talking behind the scenes and thinking he can play here or there. There might be a plan for him”.
“Any player coming into any club, you’ve got to give them a chance. But for me, it’s a shame. I’d have gone for Ivan Toney. But he’s obviously got that ban. Whether they want to take a chance with that, he would have been the obvious choice for me.”
On the other end of the spectrum, Havertz is thought to be incredibly keen on getting the deal done. He has already agreed personal terms with Arsenal.
All that is left to do is for the two clubs to agree a fee. But that could take some time, especially given Havertz is not the priority transfer from Arsenal’s perspective.
Those at the top of the Gunners hierarchy are hoping to wrap up a deal for West Ham captain Declan Rice before the club jet off to the United States for the second-leg of their pre-season tour mid-way through next month.
There is a slim chance that Arsenal touch down the other side of the pond with both Rice and Havertz as part of the squad.