Chelsea respond to Arsenal's Havertz bid

Tom Weber

• Updated: 16 Jun 2023 20:51 BST
• 3 min read

Chelsea have rejected Arsenal's opening bid for Kai Havertz, but the negotiations are far from over, according to reports.

The German has emerged as a top target for the Gunners over the past week after initially being heavily linked with a switch to Real Madrid. Los Blancos, however, eventually pulled out of the deal as they had no intention of meeting Chelsea's asking price believed to be north of £70 million (€82m).

This has given Mikel Arteta and company a window of opportunity. While they, too, aren't prepared to go that high for the attacker who must be considered a flop signing for Chelsea, they believe they can negotiate that price tag down. Indeed, Fabrizio Romano has revealed as much, saying that Chelsea are flexible regarding the fee involved for the player.

As we exclusively reported on Thursday, a contract for the 24-year-old is already in place. Personal terms are agreed as the player is keen on the move, while Arsenal have been long-time admirers of Havertz.

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Chelsea, too, are pushing for this deal to be completed in order to give them more room to manoeuvre in the transfer market - but they are not making it easy for Arsenal.

Bid rejected, as expected

As expected, the Blues have rejected the Gunners' opening bid, claims the Daily Telegraph. This is fully in line with what we reported yesterday.

There is still a sizeable gap between the two clubs' valuation of the player. The divergence stands at around £15m (€18m), according to our sources, so the two parties will remain at the negotiating table for now.

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Undeterred by this, Arsenal remain keen on getting this deal done, and the same goes for Havertz, who has not had a rosy time of it at Stamford Bridge since his €80m move from Bayer Leverkusen in 2020.