Kai Havertz’s Body Transformation Noticed Upon Arsenal Injury Return

When Christmas Day hits, Arsenal will be able to enjoy the fact that they sit top of both the Premier League and Champions League tables. Of course, there is still a long way to go in either competition, but spirits will also be boosted by a positive injury update.

Having barely featured all season long, with just one appearance to his name, Kai Havertz recently returned to training for the Gunners. The German has been out with a knee injury since August, having also missed the entire second-half of 2024/25 with a hamstring injury. In fact, he has not started a league game for Mikel Arteta since the 5-1 thrashing of Manchester City nearly a year ago, on 2 February 2025.

Having hardly seen him over the past 12 months, fans online were excited to spot Havertz in some recent behind-the-scenes training pictures shared by the club online. What’s more, they also noticed a change in his appearance.

Fans Think Havertz May Have Been Skipping Gym Sessions

When Havertz returned from his hamstring injury for pre-season during the summer, many supporters were also taken aback by his physical change, with the former Chelsea man clearly bulking up during his time on the sidelines.

However, some fans now seem to think Havertz has lost some of the muscle during his latest stint on the sidelines. One supporter wrote online: “He looks like he’s lost all that muscle he had in pre-season.”

To which others replied: “He looks like the original Havertz again.” And: “I thought i was the only person who noticed that.” One more noted. “Don’t hate it tbf. Probably still slightly bigger than 23/24.”

One theory behind the change was: “He probably worked out that his body and knee joints don’t cope well with that much weight from the muscle – leading to injuries.”

Some were concerned by the change, with one saying: “He appears to lost all that muscle he gained, looks just like when he came here, not ideal.”

Arteta Explained Why Havertz Bulked Up Over the Summer

While Havertz may have skipped a few gym sessions over the past few months, it’s interesting to note that his decision to bulk up over the summer was a deliberate call, with Arsenal on board with it. Mikel Arteta even explained:

“There’s been a transformation in his body. The last three years of his career have been so condensed that he hasn’t had time to do that and this has been a window, and he really wanted to use it

“The staff explained the opportunity that is within his physique to go to a different level. He got on board with that. You can see his presence and I think he destroyed all the metrics that we had in the gym for the last 10 years. All of them. Power, acceleration, muscle mass, the way that he has increased certain capacities in his body, his agility, he’s been incredible.”

Here’s what he looked like in the summer, before his last injury:

With that in mind, it will be interesting to see if the German gets back to that sort of shape in the coming months as he hopefully regains full fitness.