5 Top German Players To Have Played for Arsenal After Havertz Agrees To Join the Gunners

There has been an eruption of excitement at Emirates Stadium after it was revealed that Arsenal have agreed a deal to sign Kai Havertz from Chelsea.

It is understood the North London club will reportedly pay £65m for the German international.

The fee for the 24-year-old, who scored nine goals in 47 games for the Blues last season, could rise with add-ons.

Havertz joined Chelsea from Bayer Leverkusen in 2020 for a deal worth about £71m, per Sky Sports.

He also scored the winning goal for Chelsea in the 2021 Champions League final against Manchester City.

The Gunners don't have a long list of Germans to have previously played for them, however, with Havertz set to become only the 11th to ever pull on the Arsenal shirt.

Sports Brief takes a look at five of the top Germans to have played for Arsenal.

5. Lukas Podolski

After years of being linked with a transfer to Arsenal, Lukas Podolski made his move to the London outfit in the summer of 2012, BBC reported.

He started in his first official match for Arsenal against Sunderland on the opening day of the Premier League on 18 August 2012. He played 63 minutes before being subbed off for another 2012 summer signing, Olivier Giroud, in the match, which finished 0–0.

The German scored his first goal for Arsenal on 2 September in a 2–0 win against Liverpool at Anfield, while also providing the assist for Santi Cazorla to score his first for the Gunners.

On 18 September 2012, he scored his first UEFA Champions League goal for the Gunners in a 2–1 away win against Montpellier.

After scoring 19 goals in 60 appearances, Podolski completed a move to Serie A club Inter Milan on loan for the remainder of the 2014–15 season.

4. Shkodran Mustafi

Mustafi, a World Cup winner with Germany in 2014, signed for Arsenal in 2016 from Valencia in a £35m deal.

In his four-and-a-half-year stay at the Emirates, he won the FA Cup twice and helped the Gunners reach the Europa League final in 2019.

On 22 January 2017, he scored his first goal for the club in a home 2–1 league win over Burnley.

3. Per Mertesacker

After being singled out for praise for his performances at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and with his contract at Bremen dwindling, he transferred to Premier League club Arsenal a year later, for a fee of £8 million.

He quickly established himself as the first-choice centre-back for the club, becoming a mainstay despite sharing several defensive partners over his first two seasons.

He eventually built up a solid relationship with fellow defender Laurent Koscielny, and the duo would star as Arsenal ended their nine-year trophy drought by winning the 2014 FA Cup.

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He later captained and scored for the side in their retention of the trophy a year later, before becoming the club's outright captain in 2016.

2. Mesut Ozil

Mesut Ozil is one of the most creative and technically gifted playmakers to have graced the Premier League.

Arsenal signed him from Real Madrid in 2013, when the former Germany international was playing at the peak of his powers.

He holds the record for the second-most assists ever in a single Premier League season, providing 19 in the 2015-16 campaign for the Gunners. Ozil was unstoppable on his day and could spray passes that most of his contemporaries would fail to even conceive in their minds.

He won three FA Cups during his Arsenal stint. In 254 appearances across all competitions for the Gunners, he scored 44 goals and provided 77 assists.

1. Jens Lehmann

Jens Lehmann spent five years at Arsenal between 2003 and 2008. He might just be the best goalkeeper that the Gunners have had since the turn of the millennium.

The German goalkeeper was Arsenal's first-choice goalkeeper during the 2003-04 season, when they went undefeated in the league.

However, Lehmann has had his fair share of ups and downs. He is infamous for getting sent off in the 2006 UEFA Champions League final against Barcelona, effectively costing Arsenal the title.

He left the club in 2008, but returned in 2011, although he only made one appearance in the 2010-11 season after coming back from retirement. He won one Premier League title and one FA Cup in his time at Arsenal.