Chelsea slammed over selling ‘world-class’ star to Arsenal – ‘It’s just not good enough’ | OneFootball

Joe Cole has slammed his old club Chelsea for selling ‘world-class’ Kai Havertz to Arsenal, after Xabi Alonso’s side suffered a 2-1 defeat to the reigning Premier League champions on Sunday.

The Germany forward helped the Gunners maintain their perfect start to the new season by scoring the equaliser at Emirates Stadium, after Morgan Rogers had fired the visitors into an early lead.

Havertz‘s brilliant dummy then led to Martin Odegaard scoring the winner for Arsenal just after half-time to put an end to Chelsea’s winning start to the campaign.

The result leaves the Stamford Bridge outfit sitting fourth in the table with six points from their three games ahead of Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup home clash with Leeds United.

As for Havertz, Arsenal’s £65m move for the forward in 2023 was met with widespread criticism at the time, after the Germany international had mixed success during his three seasons in west London.

But Havertz is now Arsenal’s first-choice striker – ahead of Viktor Gyokeres – and produced another influential performance in Sunday’s win over Chelsea.

And it’s fair to say that Cole thinks the Blues blundered by selling Havertz three years ago, telling Premier League Productions: “I think if you’ve got Kai Havertz at your club you’re watching him every day, week in, week out.

“Coaches and managers come and go, but the Directors of Football? Look at the amount of money on centre-forwards the club has spent since they him go out the door.

“It’s just not good enough; I think it’s got to stop happening. It happened with Kevin De Bruyne [leaving]; it happened with Kai Havertz.

“Those kind of deals never happened at Manchester United with Sir Alex Ferguson, or with Arsene Wenger at Arsenal.

“When did you hear of them letting go of a player who went on to become world-class at one of your rivals?”

Odegaard, Arteta heap praise on ‘smart’ Havertz

Meanwhile, Odegaard heaped praise on Havertz after his impressive display in the win over Chelsea, telling reporters: “He’s a really smart player.

“He moves so well and takes a lot of attention from the defenders and it was a brilliant goal.”

Gunners boss Mikel Arteta, meanwhile, added: “He looks happy. He looks settled, happy, and some great things have happened in his personal life as well.

“He feels fit, he’s training every day and has this routine right now.

“He’s scoring goals, but not only that – he’s also doing amazing work for the team.”

Havertz and Arsenal are back in action on Wednesday evening when they face Napoli in their first Champions League outing of the season.