Germany teammate praises Havertz for surprising reason

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·19 June 2026

Germany teammate praises Havertz for surprising reason

Germany’s Nico Schlotterbeck has praised Arsenal’s Kai Havertz for a surprising reason, suggesting the forward is faster than you might think.

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When you think of Kai Havertz’s best qualities, perhaps the first thing that comes to mind is his physicality, or his ability to generate goalscoring opportunities for himself (even if he doesn’t always score them), or the threat he offers on crosses.

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Maybe you’d even point to his penalty record, with 23 scored and just one friendly miss across all the penalties he’s taken, excluding shootouts.

But Germany’s Nico Schlotterback believes Havertz’s speed is underrated, and that it makes him even harder to defend against.

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“Kai is fast. Very fast,” Schlotterbeck said. “People don’t really realize it, but he’s very fast. From a defender’s point of view when you’re defending against centre-forwards you think about how they can hurt you.

“My problem with Kai was that he’s fast, so he can run in behind, but he can also battle with you physically. He wins aerial duels and he can drop deep because he’s good at combining with teammates.

“He also has that No. 10 quality and can dictate the game. That’s why I always had problems defending Kai, because he’s simply an incredible player.”

Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images

Havertz has scored a few breakaway goals with Arsenal in recent seasons, so perhaps it shouldn’t be so surprising to hear that his fellow professionals think he’s fast.

Gianluigi Donnarumma certainly didn’t expect the forward to arrive so quickly as he dawdled on the ball in City’s match against Arsenal in April.

Unfortunately, Havertz didn’t get as many chances to show his skills in 2025/26 as he might have liked, having been out injured for the first half of the season. With any luck, he’ll be able to stay healthy throughout the ongoing World Cup and the 2026/27 campaign.