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Kai Havertz has revealed that he and Declan Rice messaged each other for updates on their respective moves to Arsenal before joining the club over the summer. The pair moved to north London for a combined transfer fee of £165million, with Havertz arriving from Chelsea before Rice followed suit a few weeks later.
Both players were linked with Arsenal for some time before their moves were made official, sparking a great deal of media speculation and excitement from supporters. Havertz has since explained that he and Rice were messaging each other at regular intervals to get updates on each other’s moves, which saw them become friends before joining the club.
“For sure, no, I knew him already before,” Havertz told Football Daily. “We met up once before we both came to Arsenal and we were both messaging before we came to Arsenal, saying: ‘What’s going on? What’s going on?’. He’s a very good guy on the pitch as well, every week he’s showing on the pitch what he can do, he’s an important player for us and a very funny guy.”
Rice joined Arsenal for a club-record fee of £105m and has quickly taken up a hugely important role in the middle of the park. His defensive prowess has helped the Gunners to concede fewer goals than any other Premier League team, while he has also chipped in at the top end of the pitch with two goals and two assists in all competitions.
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Havertz, meanwhile, initially took some time to settle in properly and failed to impress many of the club’s supporters with his early performances. However, he is currently enjoying a rich vein of form with two goals in his last two games and finally looks to have established himself as a key man.
The 24-year-old’s arrival was initially met with scepticism after his mixed spell at Chelsea, during which he won the Champions League but often struggled to deliver on an individual level. He now appears to be silencing his doubters after finding his feet at Arsenal and will be hoping to maintain his impressive form for as long as possible.
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Arteta was full of praise for Havertz when quizzed on his recent showings in Friday’s press conference, saying: “We support him like with any other player and then we give him the tools and the time to excel his qualities and I think that’s what he’s doing. Everything has started to come together.
“A lot of things he was doing right he continues to do so and now in front of goal he’s been very efficient. He’s been very positive and so influential in a good way to his teammates and the team, but obviously [now] he’s confident and he’s really looking forward.
“When you feel loved, when you feel respected and when you feel admired, things are much easier. Your energy is better, your body language is better. I think that’s the way he’s felt in the last few days.”
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