Arsenal will be in no rush to get Kai Havertz back into the team as the club carefully manage his return after minor knee surgery.
Havertz got just 30 minutes of football under his belt this season before undergoing a ‘successful minor surgical procedure’ at the end of August. Further details have been scarce but it is understood his absence was not viewed as a long-term one, with hope it would be a matter of weeks, rather than months.
Six weeks on from the surgery and it would appear Havertz is not in the frame to return before the October international break kicks in with the Gunners hosting West Ham United on Saturday.
Speaking last week, Mikel Arteta suggested that timeline could now be months rather than weeks.
‘With Kai, we know that it will be months with him,’ Arteta said before the Carabao Cup game against Port Vale. ‘I don’t know if it can be weeks, you never know because this is Kai and he’s a different specimen. We really miss him. Hopefully, he will be back, and back for the long term as well, so it is very important to look after that knee. So far, he’s progressing pretty well.’
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Havertz had avoided any real lengthy injury absences in his career until a hamstring injury ended his season prematurely in February. His recovery went well with the Germany international looking in fearsome shape until this latest knee issue sidelined him again as the new season got started.
With few details coming out of Arsenal, determining the exact nature of Havertz’s injury has been difficult – although an anterior cruciate ligament injury, the like of which has taken out Chelsea star Levi Colwill and Liverpool youngster Giovanni Leoni, can be ruled out.
‘Without having the diagnosis it is impossible to guess where he is at. But it is obviously not a long-term injury like an ACL because they would have disclosed that by now,’ Stephen Smith, CEO and founder of Kitman Labs which specialises in injury welfare and performance analytics, told Metro.
‘Generally if it is not that, you are looking at some kind of meniscal tear or meniscal clean-up which would usually take up to four weeks, or some sort of potential medial ligament or lateral ligament issue where you would generally be looking at the same sort of ballpark. But depending on the level of damage, injuries like that can take longer. But I wouldn’t think anything unusual has happened here’.
Before this season, Havertz was so often Arsenal’s only option up front with Gabriel Jesus’ own injury problems well documented. After splashing out £54million on Viktor Gyokeres, that is no longer the case. The Sweden international is still finding his feet after anonymous performances against Liverpool and Manchester City, but with three goals to his name and with Arteta praising his endeavours at every turn, he appears to be solving that old problem for now.
With that in mind, Arsenal have the opportunity to take their time with Havertz. Even if the German is closer to a return, bringing him back just before the international break would pose unnecessary risks with the real value in the work behind the scenes in north London.
‘They might very well be saying to themselves we are going to take a little bit of extra time here,’ Smith said. ‘They will want to make sure they get him through the international break, they don’t want him back in the side then immediately returning to international duty as well. So when the time comes for him to return, not only have they rehabilitated him but they have got some additional time to get his fitness levels and physical qualities to where they want them to be.
‘There can also be strategy in mind that has nothing to do with the rehab and recovery process but actually more the performance side in terms of what they want and need from him for the rest of the season.
‘It is a long season where Arsenal will be competing on multiple fronts. Arsenal regard Havertz as one of their best players so they will not want the pressure of feeling they have to rush him back. If they have the luxury of having other players like Gyokeres to give Havertz more time, it is a smart thing to do.’