Kai Havertz is returning to Arsenal to be assessed for what his club hope is only a minor muscle strain suffered in Germany's 1-1 draw with the Netherlands in the UEFA Nations League. The German Football Federation confirmed this morning that Havertz and Jamal Musiala, who pulled up in the warm up pre-match, have departed for the rest of the international break to begin their recuperation with their club. Havertz came off in the 30th minute of the game with what appeared to be a hamstring injury, leading to fears that Mikel Arteta could be without a key cog in his side's attack for the weeks ahead, with their fixtures resuming at home to Leeds United on October 10.
Havertz will require further assessment before a timeline is clear, but there is optimism that the 27-year-old exited before doing any serious damage to himself. Germany boss Jurgen Klopp had only been intending to use Havertz, Musiala and a host of other players for the first two games of a four-match international break for which he had called up 44 players. Jonathan Burkardt and Florian Wirtz had been due to play in the back half of those games but will instead join the team early.
"I hope this is just nothing bad," said Klopp after the game. "The boys are probably out for us but hopefully then also relatively quickly available again." Havertz has started six of Arsenal's eight games in all competitions this season, including each Premier League game, and has found an impressive vein of form alongside Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka. Meanwhile, the only other natural center forward in Mikel Arteta's squad, Viktor Gyokeres, has struggled for form early in the season.
With games against Bayern Munich and Liverpool fast approaching after the international break, Arsenal could do with Havertz swiftly shaking off whatever is ailing his hamstring. Equally, this knock, though hoped to be minor, serves as a reminder of how fragile Havertz's fitness has been in recent seasons. Having missed only one league game in his first 17 months with Arsenal, knee and hamstring issues have led to six separate setbacks for the Germany international, who missed the final three months of the 2024-25 season and was fit enough to start only seven Premier League games last season.
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