Photograph: Wikimedia Commons/David
The majority of number 29s make their way to Finsbury Park and north Islington via Euston Road and Camden, others go via Leverkusen and Chelsea. Despite sharing an outward clunkiness with his TfL, double-decker bus counterpart attempting to weave in-and-out of narrow north London streets, there is something beguiling in watching Kai Havertz flitter in and out of space.
Signing any player from a direct rival increases pressure and expectation prior to a ball even being kicked. So naturally, when Arsenal stumped up over £60 million for an out-of-sorts, out-of-form off-cut from Chelsea, winning over the Gooner faithful appeared almost impossible.
Yet, this weekend marks a full circle moment for Havertz as Brentford travel to the Emirates. In the reverse fixture the German scored the 89th-minute winner for the Gunners in his first real, important contribution in an Arsenal shirt.
Six months on from that header and silly celebration and Havertz’s importance to Arsenal is undeniable. But what actually is his role in the side?
It is hard to confine Havertz to a single, traditional position. Perhaps that is why he opted for the number 29 shirt, aware of the inability to pinpoint exactly who and what he is — I have serious doubts he is looking to emulate Mattéo Guendouzi, Kim Källström or Marouane Chamakh’s times in the Arsenal 29 shirt.
He definitely isn’t a number eight. Few would have expected him to demonstrate the same box-to-box capabilities displayed by Granit Xhaka last season.
He cannot be a false-nine in the mould of a Roberto Firmino or Cesc Fàbregas in Spain sides gone by. Let alone be considered a traditional nine when compared to the likes of Erling Haaland, Ollie Watkins or Ivan Toney — three dominant centre-forwards whose finishing and physical presence puts the German’s to shame.
He lacks the creativity and silkiness of a traditional ten like the German Gunner before him, Mesut Özil.
And yet, despite lacking in aesthetics and a traditional playing style, there is a certain effectiveness of Havertz. He makes himself a nuisance for opposition defences and allows his more clinical teammates to pounce on the chaos.
But what is it the number 29 does?
Thomas Müller famously self-proclaimed himself a ‘raumdeuter’, or ‘space-invader’. The Bayern Munich star seemed to always find himself in the right place, at the right time – invading space between opposition lines.
It wouldn’t be accurate to label Havertz in the same way – particularly given Mikel Arteta’s obsession with zones of space. The Gunners boss is rather insistent on his sides controlling spaces on the pitch, rather than invading them.
It is this fixation with space and control which perhaps made the signing of an out-of-control, wasteful Kai Havertz incredibly important to Arteta’s Arsenal.
Since the turn of the year, Arsenal have completely dominated their opposition – conceding an average of just 0.31xG per game in their last seven Premier League games. Whilst significant credit has to go to the marquee addition of Declan Rice and the defensive pairing for this feat, Havertz has typified this dominance.
The German has led a flexible front line, interchanging with both Leandro Trossard and Martin Odegaard in drawing opposition defenders out of their back line or sucking midfielders deeper. But then, in a flash, the gangly German is further forward, stretching centre-halves and winning duels against Virgil van Dijk.
Pretty much on his own, and almost exclusively without the ball, Havertz is controlling the opposition to the whims of Arsenal and Arteta. Less of a space-invader or a Raumdeuter, but a space-conductor or a ‘Raumleiter’.
Havertz has become undroppable for Arsenal with no other player capable of playing his role. To make his case to be one of the first names on the team sheet even stronger, he has now started scoring goals and creating assists regularly.
Havertz has a combined 10 goals and assists in the Premier League this season, with five coming in the last three games – not bad for a player who joined the club bereft of confidence.
Mikel Arteta saw something in Havertz that only a few hopeless romantics, reminiscing fondly about the star we saw in Leverkusen and lockdown, could have envisioned. Not only did Arteta buy a ticket, but he bought the whole Number 29 bus.
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Jack McRae writes... 