“He’s never hiding” - Kai Havertz names Arsenal teammate who he hopes will become ‘big legend’ at club

Arsenal forward Kai Havertz hopes Declan Rice will make a big name at the Emirates. He heaped praised on the English midfielder in an interview and hopes he can create a legendary career for himself at the north London club.

Arsenal are currently on a quite poor run of form as they have only won one of their past five matches across competitions. Declan Rice is one of the players who has been criticized amid Arsenal’s poor results. The England international was sent off against Brighton & Hove Albion earlier this season, which proved costly for the Gunners as they drew 1-1.

Kai Havertz still believes that Rice is one of the most important players to the Gunners, as he said on Premier League Productions.

“Declan is so important to us,” Havertz said. “In every aspect of the game, defensively and also in attack. He’s never shy, he’s never hiding, and he speaks a lot. He’s just unreal, and he’s only young too. Hopefully, he will be a big Arsenal legend.”

Kai Havertz and Declan Rice have shared the pitch 62 times in the north London side's colors and have a joint goal participation of one goal so far. The former moved to the Emirates from Chelsea in the summer of 2023, while Rice also joined from West Ham United in the same transfer window.

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Kai Havertz named the two Arsenal players he hated facing when he was at Chelsea

In the same interview with the Premier League, Kai Havertz also revealed the two Arsenal players he dreaded facing when he was still at Chelsea. While with the Blues, Havertz had some battles with some of the best defenders on the planet.

The German has faced top defenders like Virgil van Dijk, and Ruben Dias. Havertz mentioned William Saliba and Gabriel and Gabriel Magalhaes as the two defenders who gave him a tough time while he was still donning Chelsea colors.

“Who has been your toughest opponent so far?” Havertz was asked.

“There are lots of good players in the Prem at the moment, Van Dijk, and I remember when I was at Chelsea, playing against Saliba and Gabriel is not nice. There are lots of good players,” Havertz said.

Havertz’s time at Chelsea was a rollercoaster one. The Blues faithful will forever remember his winning goal against Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League final in 2021.

However, his goal-scoring ability was heavily criticized as he couldn’t replicate his Bayer Leverkusen’s heroics. In his three years at Stamford Bridge, he scored 32 goals and provided 12 assists in 139 appearances across competitions.