Mikel Arteta was talked into signing £65m player for Arsenal last summer

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It has now been shared that Mikel Arteta took some convincing before he made one key Arsenal signing last summer.

Ahead of a huge Champions League tie tonight, Arteta will surely be happy to have a wealth of attacking players at his disposal.

Although Gabriel Martinelli is unfortunately missing, the Arsenal boss still has both Gabriel Jesus and Leandro Trossard competing for a start on the left.

Arsenal have the resources to get the job done, but they will still need things to go their way tonight.

Kai Havertz will be incredibly important as the number nine, a player Rio Ferdinand now says is absolutely crucial.

That being said, Football Transfers have now shared a report detailing how Arteta had to be talked over the line when signing Havertz for Arsenal last summer.

It’s certainly not the case now, but at the time the deal for Havertz was a controversial one, with very few seeing the value it presented for Arsenal.

But Arteta had a vision, he saw an opportunity, and yet he still needed to be convinced by several conversations with Tayfun Korkut, Havertz’s former coach at Bayer Leverkusen.

Mikel Arteta spoke to Kai Havertz’s former coach before signing him for Arsenal last summer

According to the report, Arteta needed reassurances over both the mentality and the attributes of the German, who had endured an indifferent time with Chelsea.

But clearly Korkut’s commendation must have been positive, and fortunately the £65m-transfer has transpired to be a success.

Havertz is now a key player at Arsenal, a versatile profile that Arteta can now rely upon in multiple positions.

And if there was any doubt regarding a move last summer, Arteta will certainly have no regrets at Arsenal today.

Via that same information, Arteta was incredibly keen to sign Havertz once he had those conversations, he recognised a player low on confidence that he knew he could improve.

And the proof really has been in the pudding.

Arteta and Havertz seem to have such a productive relationship, both trusting one another in the most important moments.

And it was pretty telling that when almost every attacking player was substituted against Brentford, Havertz remained at number nine.

All that considered, Roy Keane has now noticed something Arsenal are now much better at this season.