Arsenal: 3 dream summer signings

2. Kai Havertz

While attacking midfield is not as pressing a need as more defensive positions, if Arsenal are not to re-sign Dani Ceballos in the summer, they will have only a near-32-year-old and rapidly depreciating Mesut Ozil, Joe Willock and Emile Smith Rowe as viable options at the position.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

There might not be a more important position on the pitch, especially in the 4-2-3-1 system that Mikel Arteta has employed thus far. The attacking midfielder is the heartbeat of the team. They receive the ball on the half-turn and progress play. They help conduct possession, press high without the ball, and generally run the game. They are now also expected to create chances and score goals. It is an all-encompassing role.

Kai Havertz might just be the best young attacking midfielder in world football. Left-footed, he has been compared to Ozil. But he is a much more modern version. He is quick, likes to make runs off the ball and in behind defences, is an outrageously cool finisher, and also works hard off the ball, pressing high up the pitch to force turnovers before exploiting space on the counter-attack.

He is also extremely productive. At just 19, he scored 17 goals and four assists in 2,902 Bundesliga minutes. Thie season, at 20, he has six goals and five assists in 1,861 minutes. Havertz will not come cheap, and realistically, he will be chased by many superior clubs — Liverpool and Bayern Munich are both rumoured suitors. But if Arsenal can pull off the impossible, they might have the perfect Ozil replacement.