Arsenal shocked the football world when it was revealed they were interested in signing Chelsea forward Kai Havertz. The interest seems to be genuine as it was reported there were positive talks with the player with only the fee being the major stumbling block.

Chelsea want a figure of around £70-75 million while the Gunners are looking to seal a deal for £60 million, hoping that the Blues' need to sell players to balance the books will allow them to get the German international at a cut-price deal. But even if the deal goes through, many, including Arsenal fans themselves, are left puzzled as to why manager Mikel Arteta wants to sign Havertz of all players. So with that said, here's a look at how Kai Havertz fits into this Arsenal team.

Havertz as a forward

Havertz has mainly operated as a forward this past season for what is fair to say has been a dysfunctional Chelsea team. He scored seven goals in 35 league games as well as nine goals in 47 games overall. Basically, he's not the most clinical striker out there, but he's not the finished product by any means. After all, he is still only 24 and it should be mentioned again, he was playing for arguably the worst Chelsea team in the last 20 years.

Many Arsenal fans have compared his build to that of Robin van Persie's and believe under Arteta, he could develop further and become a more clinical striker. That will take a year at the least, but for now, Havertz does offer an aerial presence in the box as well as great movement. He could either take the place of or offer competition to current Arsenal striker Gabriel Jesus and should perform much better than he did at Chelsea given the players around him. Havertz can also operate as a false nine who can drop into midfield and allow the likes of Gabriel Martinelli to get forward more while overloading the midfield — especially if Arteta decides to go with just three central defenders next season.

But given that Jesus is not the most clinical striker out there himself, it still remains puzzling to spend that amount of money just to have Havertz play as Arsenal's main man upfront.

Havertz as a second striker/advanced midfielder

What seems to be more likely is Havertz playing as a second striker or advanced midfielder and it would be the only way him and Jesus could realistically play together. Jesus would maintain his role as a center forward while Havertz would be just behind him in the hole like Martin Odegaard.

As suggested by one Twitter account, Havertz and Odegaard could even play together behind Jesus in a 3-2-2-3 formation with Thomas Partey and Oleksandr Zinchenko in the pivot. Zinchenko — who played a hybrid left back/central midfield role this past season — could also be replaced with Declan Rice who looks set to join the club.

In this role, Havertz would take up the role the departing Granit Xhaka had this past season, but be more advanced and interchange with Jesus who also likes to drop deep. The benefits of this is Odegaard doesn't have all the creative burden while allowing Jesus to have more freedom knowing there's a physical presence in the box in Havertz. Additionally, Arsenal would have a front five all capable of chipping in with at least 10 league goals. However, they would still lack that star striker capable of getting them 20-25 league goals and producing a moment of magic when the team needs it most.

However, a 3-2-2-3 formation seems highly unlikely unless Arteta plans on being super experimental.

Havertz out wide

Havertz can also play on the left or the right and could serve as a solid backup for Martinelli and Bukayo Saka. Both players, especially Saka, were run to the ground last season and having a solid deputy could ease the burden especially with Champions League football returning to the Emirates Stadium next season.

Of course, it's a lot of money for a backup winger and Havertz isn't likely to come for that specific role. However, Arteta values versatility in his players and Havertz is an extremely versatile player who can offer support on the wings. Perhaps the idea of Havertz being a forward who can also provide support alongside Leandro Trossard and Reiss Nelson appeals to Arteta?

Conclusion

It should be noted that this is all speculation for now. The transfer is still not complete, but it's clear that Arteta has an idea in mind with Havertz and it'll be very interesting to see how he plays him. There are certainly a number of tactical options available with Havertz. For now, we'll only know what it is for sure once we get to see the German in an Arsenal jersey.