{"id":296873,"date":"2023-12-02T06:54:38","date_gmt":"2023-12-02T06:54:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=296873"},"modified":"2023-12-02T06:54:38","modified_gmt":"2023-12-02T06:54:38","slug":"arsenal-duo-kai-havertz-and-declan-rice-shared-text-messages-before-165m-moves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/arsenal-duo-kai-havertz-and-declan-rice-shared-text-messages-before-165m-moves\/","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal duo Kai Havertz and Declan Rice shared text messages before \u00a3165m moves"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arsenal ‘ready to sell Thomas Partey’ to raise funds for three-man January transfer list<\/h3>\n

Kai Havertz has revealed that he and Declan Rice messaged each other for updates on their respective moves to Arsenal before joining the club over the summer. The pair moved to north London for a combined transfer fee of \u00a3165million, with Havertz arriving from Chelsea before Rice followed suit a few weeks later.<\/p>\n

Both players were linked with Arsenal for some time before their moves were made official, sparking a great deal of media speculation and excitement from supporters. Havertz has since explained that he and Rice were messaging each other at regular intervals to get updates on each other’s moves, which saw them become friends before joining the club.<\/p>\n

“For sure, no, I knew him already before,” Havertz told Football Daily. “We met up once before we both came to Arsenal and we were both messaging before we came to Arsenal, saying: \u2018What\u2019s going on? What\u2019s going on?\u2019. He\u2019s a very good guy on the pitch as well, every week he\u2019s showing on the pitch what he can do, he\u2019s an important player for us and a very funny guy.”<\/p>\n

Rice joined Arsenal for a club-record fee of \u00a3105m and has quickly taken up a hugely important role in the middle of the park. His defensive prowess has helped the Gunners to concede fewer goals than any other Premier League team, while he has also chipped in at the top end of the pitch with two goals and two assists in all competitions.<\/p>\n

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Havertz, meanwhile, initially took some time to settle in properly and failed to impress many of the club’s supporters with his early performances. However, he is currently enjoying a rich vein of form with two goals in his last two games and finally looks to have established himself as a key man.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old’s arrival was initially met with scepticism after his mixed spell at Chelsea, during which he won the Champions League but often struggled to deliver on an individual level. He now appears to be silencing his doubters after finding his feet at Arsenal and will be hoping to maintain his impressive form for as long as possible.<\/p>\n