Kai Havertz, who married his long-term girlfriend Sophia a few weeks ago in Bergisch Gladbach, has been at the Gunners since the summer of 2023. The former Leverkusen player started with the Bayer 04 U13 squad, turned professional and won his first international cap here and then, after ten years under the Cross, he moved on to the Premier League in 2020 to play for Chelsea and he scored the winner in the Champions League final in 2022.
Havertz quickly became a key player at Arsenal. The offensive player scored 13 goals last season for the Premier League runners-up who were involved in an exciting three-way race for the league title alongside Liverpool and Manchester City. Arsenal finished second two points behind City and Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool were third.
Under coach Mikel Arteta, Arsenal had the best defence in the Premier League conceding just 29 goals in 38 games and they had the second best attack with 91 goals scored with Manchester City (96) top. The most prolific goalscorer for the Gunners was the England international Bukayo Saka with 16 ahead of Kai Havertz (13) and the Belgian Leandro Trossard (12).
Arsenal have strengthened their already outstanding defence built around the two central defenders William Saliba and Gabriel as well as goalkeeper David Raya who was in the winning Spain squad at Euro 2024: Riccardo Calafiori joined Arsenal from Bologna at the start of last week. The Italy international was one of the outstanding players in the Azzurri squad at the European Championships in Germany. Calafiori can play as a central defender as well as on the left side of defence and in holding midfield. The 22-year-old Roman not only stands out as a tough tackler but is also as a technically and tactically gifted player on the break with a great desire to get up the pitch.
Talking about the Euro 2024 shooting star, the target for a lot of top European clubs, Arsenal coach Arteta said: "He gives us additional strength to improve our defence. Riccardo has a big personality and a great character – and also specific skills to make us stronger on the way to winning trophies."
The Gunners' midfield is controlled by captain Martin Ödegaard, the England international Declan Rice and Jorginho, Calafiori’s teammate in the Azzurri line-up. Kai Havertz plays in attacking midfield or up front. In addition to the former Leverkusen player and the already mentioned Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard the two Brazilians Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli are also tasked with finding the back of the net. Arsenal may venture into the transfer market again in the next few weeks to strengthen the attack.
Ahead of the coming campaign, the club from North London went on a tour of the USA where they played two friendlies against Premier League rivals Manchester United and Liverpool. While Arsenal beat United 2-1, they lost by the same scoreline few days later in the match against Liverpool in front of a crowd of 69,879 at the Lincoln Financial Field. Kai Havertz scored the goal for the Gunners.
Coach Mikel Arteta, who ended his playing career at Arsenal in 2016, has been the head coach at the club since 2019. Before that, he was assistant coach to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City for several years. Arteta and Bayer 04 coach Xabi Alonso know each other well. Both played together in the youth set-up at the Basque club Antiguoko and later for the Spain U21 side.
Last season, ahead of the quarter-final exit against Bayern Munich in the Champions League (2-2; 0-1) he congratulated his "good friend Xabi" and former player Granit Xhaka on winning the Bundesliga title. Xhaka played for the Gunners for seven years where he won the FA Cup twice and the Community Shield. Wednesday's match will be special for the Werkself midfield maestro.
A fresh look for the BayArena: The Bayer 04 stadium will have new seating in the form of folding seats for the 2026/27 campaign that will ensure significantly improved seating comfort and simplified movement within the rows of seats. As part of routine replacement after 17 years, fans of the Werkself were able to purchase the existing seats, used to witness the first German league title in the club's history. In addition, a large proportion of the seats will be donated to charitable projects, primarily in the local region. Bayer 04 fans can look forward to new, functional folding seats for the season opener at the beginning of August - still in the club colours of black and red, of course. A glimpse at the BayArena during the refurbishment.
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On Monday evening, 8 June, around 250 people came to the Bürgerhaus Baumberg at the invitation of Bayer 04 to find out details of the new plans for the campus on Alfred-Nobel-Straße at an information event. More compact, greener and with many advantages for Monheim am Rhein - those are the aims. There were lively discussions for around three hours and some misunderstandings were cleared up.
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Werkself player Montrell Culbreath and Bayer 04 loanee Francis Onyeka are part of Germany's final squad for the U19 European Championships this summer. The tournament is in Wales from 24 June to 12 July.
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When Malik Tillman arrived at Bayer 04 Leverkusen from PSV Eindhoven last summer, he did more than just add attacking midfield strength to the team — he reconnected the club with a unique and understated American lineage that stretches back more than three decades.
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Bayer 04 are away to third-division club SV Wehen Wiesbaden in the first round of the 2026/27 DFB Pokal. That was the outcome of the draw on Saturday night, 6 June, at the German Football Museum in Dortmund. The Werkself first round tie will be played between 21 and 24 August. The exact date has yet to be finalised.
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