BBC pundit Alan Shearer has praised Arsenal forward Kai Havertz for his form since the start of the year.

The German international has racked up 5 goals and 4 assists in his last 7 league appearances and, speaking after he got on the scoresheet against Brighton at the weekend, Shearer said:

“He’s been incredible for them since the turn of the year and is now one of the first names on the team sheet. He’s been an outstanding signing.”

It’s been a massive turnaround in Havertz’s fortunes over the past few months. He had a difficult start to life at the Emirates, and he was already being labelled as one of the flops of the season, having joined from Chelsea for £65m in the summer.

However, since manager Mikel Arteta started to deploy the 24-year-old as a no.9 on a regular basis, things have begun to go the player’s way.

Shearer is not the only one who has been paying tribute to Havertz

Prior to the first leg of Arsenal’s Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich, both Gabriel Jesus and Thomas Tuchel were asked about the German’s form.

Despite losing his place to Havertz, Jesus was full of compliments for his teammate, stating that he has been “unbelievable”, while Tuchel said that his former player has “great qualities”.

Arsenal will want the forward to build on his recent form

It is easy to forget that Havertz only scored one penalty in his first 12 league outings for the Gunners, so there are still some doubts about his consistency and whether his recent purple patch in front of goal is sustainable.

Even so, it should be pointed out that he was playing a lot deeper earlier in the campaign and he has excelled when has has been asked to lead the line, averaging a goal involvement every 1.22 matches as a striker this season.