“He can also do what Bellingham is doing at Real Madrid here at Arsenal if you help him to unlock his potential”- Arsenal legend Ian Wright warns Mikel Arteta not to lose star player who has been very instrumental for many Arsenal’s wins this season- Not Nketiah, not Smith Rowe and not Odegard
“He can also do what Bellingham is doing at Real Madrid here at Arsenal if you help him to unlock his potential”- Arsenal legend Ian Wright warns Mikel Arteta not to lose star player who has been very instrumental for many Arsenal’s wins this season- Not Nketiah, not Smith Rowe and not Odegard
Jude Bellingham’s performance vs Barcelona few weeks back gives Mikel Arteta perfect blueprint to unlock Arsenal superstar
Arsenal may find Kai Havertz’s best position in following a blueprint set out by Jude Bellingham at Real Madrid.
Arsenal may be able to solve their Kai Havertz positional conundrum by looking at none other than Real Madrid and their star signing Jude Bellingham. The England international has been nothing but exceptional since his move to Los Blancos in the summer, scoring 13 goals and assisting three in his opening 13 games across all competitions.
He was on song once again during the biggest game of the season so far, the El Clasico between Real Madrid and Barcelona on Saturday. The youngster proved to be influential once again in the tie, scoring an equaliser from far outside the box before arriving in stoppage time to win the game for his side.
So in that respect, comparing the two players may come with some questions and doubts as to how the pair could be remotely similar from the outside looking in. Not only are both totally different characters and personalities, but one is shining and being praised as one of the signings of the summer, while the other is under ever growing pressure to meet his price tag expectations.
However, there are more similarities between their form than one might first expect. First it’s worth discussing Havertz and how he got to this position where many simply don’t know where he fits in best. Now the Germany international isn’t just a bad player, these stars don’t tend to just lose all quality overnight and he was in fact one of the more in demand youngsters while at Bayer Leverkusen.
Scoring with both feet, his head and even from the penalty spot, it seemed as though Havertz was going to be the next big thing in Europe. Where he found most of his success was in a role where he would float into space that was vacated by other players paying more attention to the striker.
Scoring with both feet, his head and even from the penalty spot, it seemed as though Havertz was going to be the next big thing in Europe. Where he found most of his success was in a role where he would float into space that was vacated by other players paying more attention to the striker.
One of the large advantages at the time was playing with Kevin Volland, a tall target-man like striker that would occupy defenders well. The experienced forward would be pushing the backline and in swoops Havertz, finding the back of the net with the space left with box-crashing runs and headers.
Where this changed was in his move to Chelsea, with the expectation that his goals at Leverkusen would translate to the Premier League. But rather than slotting him into his usual role, the youngster was seen as the centre-forward himself and given his height there was the possibility of him fulfilling this.
However, it never really worked as Havertz was now the creator of space rather than the beneficiary of it, meaning the types of chances he was receiving were different and it never quite worked out. The move to Arsenal has seen Mikel Arteta experiment beyond that, playing him as a midfielder, but he isn’t often finding the same spaces as Martin Odegaard is more advanced and he is more reliant on winning duels instead.
That has led to question marks over where the best position for Havertz may be, when in reality it’s been there all along from his days in the Bundesliga. There’s a clear carbon copy of that success happening in La Liga with an England midfielder and, that’s right, it’s Jude Bellingham.
Goal scoring has become a theme for the youngster at Los Blancos and there’s no mistaking that it’s for the same reasons as Havertz found. Playing off of a big striker and finding the space in the pockets that fall behind it, in this case it’s the return of Joselu at Real Madrid and not Volland.
It was something he took advantage of in the El Clasico, firstly taking up the space on the edge of the box left by his striker pushing the backline deeper into the box for the cross that would give him the time to get a shot off. The winner saw Bellingham ghost into space behind the backline as they were focused elsewhere, allowing him the freedom to find that space.
If that isn’t enough, then it was something explained well by Diego Simeone, the Atletico Madrid boss than masterminded a 3-1 win over his city rivals by reducing the impact of Bellingham. “Jude Bellingham often takes advantage of Joselu’s aerial game,” the Rojiblancos manager said. “Without Joselu his spaces were reduced.”
It perhaps explains where his strengths and weaknesses are, similar to that of Havertz when he found success in the past. The issue for Arsenal would be having that aerial presence up front as neither Eddie Nketiah nor Gabriel Jesus offer that, which may mean a turn to a striker in the January or summer transfer market is on the cards.
Whether it works out for Havertz or Bellingham at their respective clubs remains to be seen, but it shows how playing to the strengths of a player can dramatically alter their outlook.
