Kai Havertz speaks about the difficulties of joining Arsenal from rivals Chelsea

Arsenal forward Kai Havertz has acknowledged the difficulty of transitioning from Chelsea to the Gunners, expressing the challenge of earning the “trust” of the fans.

Kai Havertz, who moved to Arsenal in a £65 million transfer in June, had previously struggled to live up to expectations following his £71 million move to Chelsea from Bayer Leverkusen three years earlier.

Havertz, once considered among Europe’s most promising young talents, is yet to fully regain his form at Arsenal, where manager Mikel Arteta has been deploying him in a midfield role in recent weeks. Despite facing challenges, Havertz has affirmed his satisfaction with being part of Arsenal.

“From outside, Arsenal always looked like a family,” he told the club’s official website. “That’s the feeling I got when playing. And when I joined, that was exactly what it was like, and the staff are really nice too – and that makes life easier for a new player.

“From the first minute that I spoke to Mikel [Arteta] about joining Arsenal, I had this feeling that he respects all of us very much, so that was also a big part of me joining the club. I just felt the togetherness of the club from the players and especially within the fans and the whole club.

“It’s very important to feel trust from the fans. It’s always tough when you come from Chelsea, because they are big rivals, so it can take weeks to get some trust from the fans. But goals and good games can help me to get it and I will always give 100 per cent in the games and training sessions. I think they will recognise this as well, which is very important. I’m really happy to be here.”