'What's he bringing to the team?' - Arsenal signing slammed after West Ham humiliation
Tom Weber
- 1 Nov 2023 16:44 CDT
- 3 min read
Criticism of Arsenal's decision to splash out on Kai Havertz is growing after another lacklustre performance.
The Gunners were comprehensively beaten by West Ham in the Carabao Cup thanks to an own goal from Ben White and strikes from Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen. A late, late Martin Odegaard finish was a mere consolation as Mikel Arteta's men were dumped out of the cup.
Strangely, Aaron Ramsdale got a rare start, which prompted former Premier League star Shay Given to call the goalkeeping situation at Arsenal "a bit of a mess" prior to kickoff given that he felt the England international had been unfairly dropped in the first place.
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Ramsdale ultimately didn't do himself any favours as many felt he should have done better on Bowen's goal, but it was €75m summer signing Kai Havertz who was singled out for particularly scathing criticism after the 3-1 loss.
"What's he bringing to the team?"
Ex-Premier League striker Darren Bent took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share his thoughts on Arsenal's West Ham disaster. "Fair play to West Ham," he wrote, "Arsenal not at the races at all tonight."
"I hate singling out one player, but I need someone to explain why £65 million was spent on Kai Havertz and what exactly is he bringing to the team? 15 games into the season I haven't seen anything substantial."
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Many in the replies concurred, with one user replying: "I really want to stay positive for the guy, but I'm struggling to see what he adds to the team, seems like he's hiding all the time."
Another wrote: "Arsenal signing Havertz will haunt Mikel [Arteta] because Havertz will not get better than this. He has been like this for 3-4 years. Whatever he hoped to achieve with him, he is the only one that understands."
