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.
Less than a year ago, Kerim Alajbegovic moved from the Bayer 04 U19s to Austrian top-flight club FC Red Bull Salzburg. The forward’s development since then has been impressive. In 36 matches, including in the UEFA Europa League, the 18-year-old has scored 14 goals. In the summer, Alajbegovic, now a Bosnia international, will return to Leverkusen - and thus not only achieve the next milestone still early in his career, but also enrich the Werkself squad with his footballing versatility and determination.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen have extended the contract with forward Nathan Tella ahead of schedule. The versatile 26-year-old, who can be deployed as a right winger, false nine or left winger, has penned a new contract to 30 June 2031. Tella joined the Werkself from Championship club Southampton in 2023. His previous contract ran to the summer of 2028.
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Nathan Tella has extended his contract with Bayer 04 to 2031. In an interview with Werkself TV, the 26-year-old talks about fulfilling his dreams, his positive outlook on life and his goals for the future. He answers the questions in English - all except the last one, which he addresses directly to the fans...
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In the final international break in the current 2025/26 campaign, Bayer 04 striker Patrik Schick with Czechia will be battling for a place at the World Cup. Meanwhile, national teams that have already qualified, include other Werkself players called up, are involved in friendlies in the build-up to the World Cup. Read on for an overview of the Leverkusen internationals and their match dates.
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The Werkself kicked off the final international break of the current season on Monday morning with the first of three open training sessions this week. While eleven Bayer 04 players will be away on international duty in the coming days, the other players will be working together in Leverkusen. The next challenge in the Bundesliga awaits on Saturday, 4 April (kick-off: 15:30 CEST) with the home game against VfL Wolfsburg.
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