Gary Neville makes surprise Roberto Firmino claim after £65m star shines against Manchester United

Gary Neville has likened Arsenal’s Kai Havertz to former Liverpool star Roberto Firmino.

The German forward’s renaissance under Mikel Arteta has helped Arsenal to maintain their title charge as he produced a record run of form including 14 goal contributions in 13 games. While no-one is knocking what is clearly a strong run of form, Neville’s comments could certainly be perceived as a disrespectful to Firmino.

Speaking in his Sky Sports podcast with Peter Drury on YouTube, Neville claimed Havertz is doing something ‘similar’ to Firmino at Arsenal. “Havertz is doing a similar thing to what Firmino did at Liverpool. He drops in, he links the play, he provides a goal threat, but he’s subservient to the team. He’ll do whatever the team needs during a game.

“Remember for large parts of this season there were large question marks over Havertz, but he’s become a really important figure. I used to think that Firmino was a wonderful player for Liverpool. [Sadio] Mane and [Mo] Salah used to get all the main plaudits and the credit, but I always used to mention Firmino because of the way he played, connecting midfield with the attack. Havertz is doing something similar.”

In fairness, there is some truth to Neville’s comments. Havertz’s ability to hold the ball up and come deep to interact with the play far from the parameters of the opponent’s area has allowed the likes of Leandro Trossard and Bukayo Saka to thrive in 2024. Arsenal are unbeaten in the league since the turn of the year and all three have maintained strong records in front of goal.

Where the comparison falls down, however, is that Firmino simply had more to his game. Rather than pull out endless statistics or prime examples, it is simply more telling that Jurgen Klopp would claim that he was ‘very, very influential in all the things we did’ in a team that won multiple trophies and finished second behind Manchester City with 97 points.

Not only was he a supreme attacker who could finish with either foot, his head, from distance and link-up incredibly well or dribble past multiple players, he was one of the best defensive pressing forwards in Europe, helping to bring Klopp’s tactics to life - as well as make Liverpool a hugely difficult team to face.

However, one of the most famous quotes that Klopp once said was: “Mo Salah, world class, but not every day. Sadio Mane, world class, but not every day. Roberto Firmino, world class, pretty much every day.” Havertz is clearly a player in brilliant form playing under a manager who is getting the best out of his vast ability once promised at Bayer Leverkusen but while he may possess some traits in his game as a ‘false nine’ he simply just isn’t comparable to the former Liverpool star who revolutionised a position during his time in England.