Arsenal: Mikel Arteta hails Kai Havertz for 'transformation' during injury lay-off to send message to squad | OneFootball

Gunners forward broke records in the gym to recover from hamstring injury ahead of schedule

Back in contention: Kai Havertz could make his return against Newcastle on Sunday

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The German, however, rejoined training on Wednesday and he could make his comeback on Sunday when Arsenal host Newcastle.

Arteta has praised Havertz for the speed of his recovery and revealed the 25-year-old will return a different player.

“There’s been a transformation in his body,” said Arteta. “The last three years in 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.

“To be fair, the staff and how they have explained the opportunity that is within with his physique to go to a different level and the things that he can improve and it can even help him mentally as well as being more effective as a player.

“He got on board with that, he worked hard, 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 ten 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. I was talking to the medical staff the other day and they were talking about that.

“For someone that is not in the team to have that mindset, the only thing he has done is raise the standards in the building because the other ones in the building who are injured were looking at him: ‘I’m going to look bad if I don’t do the same’ - so that’s part of the culture.

“And [I am] very grateful because when the players that are not playing are doing that, it’s just raising the bar for the next one to come. If he is not at that level he is gonna get exposed so that will make us better.’