Arsenal have enjoyed a stellar season which currently has them top of the Premier League table with just a couple of matches remaining.
While Manchester City are still favourites due to having a game in hand, anything could happen across these three ties which could open the door for the Gunners to claim their first league title in 20 years.
Mikel Arteta has been helped massively by having the best attacking record in the top flight. The likes of Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard have all contributed impressively throughout 2023/24.
Summer signing Kai Havertz has also shone during the campaign, despite high expectations upon his £65m arrival threatening to derail his first few months at the North Londoners.
The German star has grown into his role at the club and has swiftly emerged as one of Arteta’s key players over the previous few months.
If he continues to impress, might he attract attention from the continent? It's certainly possible and has happened before at the club.
Marc Overmars is a notable example. The winger was one of Arsène Wenger’s main attacking options during his early years in charge of the club, but following a couple of solid seasons, he was sold to Barcelona.
If you adjust for the inflation of transfer fees in football over the years, the sale of Overmars back in 2000 to the Spanish giants was for a fee which is currently more than the value of Havertz.
Kai Havertz’s current market valuation at Arsenal
Since making the move to London from Chelsea last summer, Havertz has featured 49 times across all competitions, scoring 13 goals while grabbing six assists, a decent enough return for the former Blues starlet.
His consistency has been solid too. The German has missed just one Premier League match and that was due to suspension, giving Arteta a reliable option to utilise, either in his midfield or attack.
Among his teammates, Havertz currently ranks second in the squad for goals and assists in the top flight (18), along with ranking second for shots on target per game (0.8), fifth for big chances created (seven) and third for key passes per game (1.2), slotting into the current Arsenal setup with ease the longer the season has gone on.
Aged just 24, the former Bayer Leverkusen gem could still improve over the coming years and the initial £65m outlay could hopefully turn into a major profit.
According to Football Transfers, Havertz’s current market valuation is €88.8m (£76.3m), which is already a rise of over £10m on the original fee from last summer.
Metric
Champions League
Premier League
Goals
1
12
Assists
0
6
Key passes per game
0.8
1.2
Big chances created
3
7
Successful dribbles per game
0.3
0.5
In 2000, Wenger sold arguably one of his finest signings as Arsenal boss to Barcelona for a significant fee worth more in 2024 money than Havertz is now – when they offloaded Overmars for a substantial profit.
How much Arsenal sold Marc Overmars for in 2024 money
The north Londoners sold the Dutch winger for a fee of around £36m, as per Totally Money, to the Catalan giants in the summer of 2000 as it represented an offer they simply couldn’t refuse, especially considering how much they paid for him three years earlier.
As per Totally Money's index, this £36m would now be worth a staggering £91.8m if judged by inflation, which is nearly £20m more than what Havertz is currently valued at, despite enjoying a stellar campaign.
After a wonderful spell at Ajax, making nearly 200 appearances and scoring 44 goals, it was time for Overmars to leave Amsterdam. Not only did he win three Dutch titles, but Overmars played a starring role in their superb Champions League triumph during the 1994/95 season, going undefeated throughout the competition.
With Wenger approaching his first full season in charge of the Gunners, he was aiming to bolster his squad and Overmars was earmarked as one of his main targets.
His debut season in London saw Arsenal win the domestic double, with Overmars registering 22 goal contributions – 16 goals and six assists – in all competitions.
Wenger was beginning to change the way football was perceived in England, as the Frenchman managed to prolong the careers of several of his veteran players due to changing their diets and adding in the likes of yoga.
Totally Money have taken the 100 most expensive transfers of all time across each season since 1992 in Europe's top five leagues. Armed with plenty of historical financial data they have calculated what footballers of yesteryear would be worth in the present day after taking into account the remarkable rate of inflation.
The next two seasons saw the Dutchman score 24 times while providing 25 assists, yet he couldn’t lead the Gunners to another major trophy as Manchester United resumed their dominance of English football.
A move to Barcelona was always going to be difficult to turn down for Overmars, as he made the leap following an impressive showing at Euro 2000 with the Netherlands.
What Marc Overmars did after leaving Arsenal
This wasn’t the vintage Barcelona side which dominated Spanish and European football between 2005 and 2015.
The Catalan outfit were in a transitional state as Overmars failed to win a single trophy during his spell at the club between 2000 and 2004.
He did make 141 appearances for the club, but his trophy-winning days were over, leaving during the summer of 2004 as a persistent knee injury forced him to call it quits aged just 31.
Arsenal supporters of a certain vintage will remember him for his wonderful turn of pace and eye for goal, despite playing predominantly on the left flank.
While the club didn’t want to lose him at the turn of the century, it was clear Wenger struck gold by selling the former Ajax gem, especially considering how much profit they were going to make.
Not only that, but it appeared to be that Wenger managed to get the best out of the player, as his performances on the field started to decline the moment he moved to Spain, ensuring Arsenal got significant profit for a winger who was starting to decline.
Arteta will be hoping to secure a profit on some of the players he is looking to sell this summer, as funds will need to be raised in order to further improve his team.
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