Mikel Arteta has indicated Kai Havertz could return to Arsenal training and match action imminently after a four-month absence with a knee problem. The German forward underwent surgery after the injury and a setback earlier this month delayed his original expected return, but Arteta suggested the end of that spell on the sidelines is near.<\/p>\n
\u201cQuite close,\u201d is how the Arsenal boss described the situation surrounding Havertz\u2019s comeback in the build up to Saturday\u2019s Premier League clash with Brighton & Hove Albion. \u201cI think it will be a matter of days if not weeks. Let\u2019s see in the next stage how he responds to that. He\u2019s a player that we\u2019ve missed a lot. A player that brings the team into a different dimension. So, really happy to have him back soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
The club paid \u00a365 million ($87.9 million) for Havertz, and his absence has been significant. With summer signing Viktor Gy\u00f6keres also spending time on the sidelines this season, Arteta has at times deployed Mikel Merino up front. Merino has responded admirably in a series of No. 9 starts stretching back to the start of November, scoring against Slavia Prague (2), Chelsea and Brentford.<\/p>\n
Those interim solutions have worked in the short term, but they are not intended as a long-term plan. The imminent return of Havertz, combined with the recent reappearance of Gabriel Jesus and Gy\u00f6keres now regularly starting again following his November layoff, strengthens Arsenal\u2019s options as the campaign reaches a phase when depth becomes crucial.<\/p>\n
Beyond the immediate numerical boost, Havertz\u2019s return also offers internal competition. The forward\u2019s presence alongside Jesus could provide the competitive environment Gy\u00f6keres needs to find consistent form. For now, Arteta and the squad wait to see how Havertz progresses through the next stage of his comeback, with optimism that the player who underwent surgery and faced a recent setback will rejoin the group in the days or weeks ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arteta says Kai Havertz could return in days after four months out with knee surgery. for the squad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5437,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,1303],"tags":[1073,1312],"class_list":["post-5438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-arsenal-news","tag-acl-injury","tag-arsenal-fitness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}