Arsenal have signed Kai Harvetz from Chelsea in a £65 million deal.
The German international becomes Mikel Arteta’s first summer signing as the Spaniard looks to regroup his squad after their second-place finish last season.
He has been handed the number 29 shirt after signing an unspecified long-term contract.
“It’s super exciting for me to be joining this amazing club and to be part of the Arsenal family,” Harvetz told Arsenal after sealing his move to the Emirates.
“This club has such a long history, and I hope we can achieve lots of things.
“The mentality in the Arsenal squad is very high, and you can feel that. That was one of the reasons it has been so hard to play against Arsenal recently.
“The aim is to win trophies, and I’m going to give everything to do that for the supporters and everyone at the club. I’m now looking forward to meeting all the players and the staff when we come back for pre-season.”
The German joined Chelsea in 2020 for £75m and enjoyed three successful years in which he won the Championship League and Club World Cup. The 23-year-old broke into the limelight while playing as an attack. So Arteta is eager to use him as an attacking midfielder instead of as a roaming number nine.
Reppin' the famous red and white 😮💨
❤️ @kaihavertz29 pic.twitter.com/RUHcLpzw3H
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) June 28, 2023
Speaking about his new signing, the Gunners boss confirmed that he will play the German in the midfield for Arsenal.
“Kai is a player of top quality,” he said. ‘He has great versatility and is an intelligent player. He will bring a huge amount of extra strength to our midfield and variety to our play.
“We welcome Kai and his family to Arsenal Football Club, and we are all excited to start working with him when we start pre-season training soon.”
Arsenal’s sporting Director Edu added: “We’re excited to bring Kai to the club, and great work by everyone to get this deal complete.
“Kai is an exciting addition to our squad who will bring great attacking quality and versatility. As an experienced 24-year-old, his signing represents another important step in strengthening our young core of talented players we have at Arsenal. We look forward to working with Kai.”
