Rio Ferdinand says he’d have hated playing against 24-year-old Arsenal star

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Arsenal forward Kai Havertz has been praised by Rio Ferdinand for his unconventional playing style.

Ferdinand, speaking on TNT Sports, admits the Gunners ace is the type of player he’d have hated playing against.

Arsenal signed Havertz from Chelsea last summer for a reported £65million. It took him a while to find his feet at N5 after struggling at Stamford Bridge.

Havertz was lacking in confidence initially, but now things have clicked for the 24-year-old, and he is well and truly flying at Arsenal.

He has four goals and two assists from his last four Premier League games, helping the Gunners go top of the Premier League table.

And on Tuesday, Havertz stepped up as Arsenal battled past a doughty Porto side to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

As per Sofascore, he won 10 aerial duels and five ground duels, and made one key pass on the night. He also converted one of Arsenal’s penalties.

Arsenal star Kai Havertz ‘remains hard to pick up’

Ferdinand, speaking ahead of the match, lauded Havertz’s ‘beautiful’ style inside the box and believes his character should be praised after prior criticism.

“His character, his mentality has to be applauded because questions were asked of him,” said the Manchester United legend.

“The way he’s ghosting around in this penalty box at the moment is beautiful.

“He remains hard to pick up at the moment because he isn’t a conventional number nine.

“He plays off of defenders, that’s the type of player I hated playing against and he’s really being clinical and effective.”

It’s great to see Havertz finally gelling at Arsenal and showing the kind of form that made him such a highly sought-after player when he was at Bayer Leverkusen.

Havertz’s efforts have helped the Gunners surge back into title contention after wobbling during the festive period. And now, he has helped them into the last eight of the Champions League.