Kai Havertz is in line to start for Arsenal in the Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest on Saturday, a return to the biggest stage for a player whose season was nearly erased by injury. The 26-year-old has pushed himself back into the heart of Mikel Arteta's side just months after two surgeries and weeks in a knee brace.
That is why his name is being searched now. Havertz missed almost five months after hurting his knee on the opening day against Manchester United, then came back in January and has been trusted in recent games against Manchester City and Burnley ahead of Viktor Gyökeres. He said the long layoff left him “in a bad place” and described being confined indoors, unable to walk or do anything, before staff and teammates helped him rebuild his belief.
The timing gives Saturday's final a sharper edge. Arsenal have already won their first Premier League title since 2004, and Havertz is now being asked to influence a different kind of night after the club paid £65m to sign him from Chelsea two years after his Champions League final winner for them in Porto. That move puzzled plenty at the time, especially because he had already spent part of last season as Arsenal's top scorer despite missing its last three months with a hamstring injury.
Havertz has not hidden how much the competition still means to him. He said scoring in the 2021 final was something he would never forget, that as a child he could not have dreamed of winning a final that way, and that he will always be proud of it. He also said he takes that feeling with him and hopes it happens again, a line that sounds less like nostalgia than a player trying to turn memory into fuel.
There is still one question Arsenal will keep to themselves until the teams are named: whether Havertz is a certainty or simply the likeliest choice to lead the line. For now, the signs point one way. After months in rehabilitation and a late-season run back into favor, he is on the verge of starting one of the most watched of all Arsenal F.C. games.
