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Kai Havertz may have transformed himself at Arsenal - but he's not on the level of his Premier League rivals. That's the view of Watford icon Troy Deeney, who has omitted the Arsenal star when naming his top six strikers in the Premier League. Having swapped Chelsea for Arsenal last summer for £65million, Havertz struggled when deployed in a central midfield role, before dazzling when chosen to lead the line by Mikel Arteta from January. He finished last season with 13 top-flight goals - five more than the most he managed in a single campaign during his three years at Stamford Bridge. And with seven strikes already this term, the versatile German is halfway from matching his total tally from last season. However, he hasn't convinced talk SPORT pundit Deeney that he is an out-and-out centre-forward, with the 25-year-old notably omitted from his list. Giving his reasoning as to why he is not including him in his list, Deeney simply told talk SPORT. com: "I don't class Havertz as a striker, sorry. " Unsurprisingly, Deeney, who has copped stick for claiming Mohamed Salah is not world class, opted to name Manchester City marksman Erling Haaland as the best in the division. The Norway international is on course to become the first player since Thierry Henry in 2006 to win three consecutive Premier League Golden Boot awards. Haaland is already on 12 goals from his opening 11 matches, and shows no signs of slowing down. Commenting on the ex-Borussia Dortmund talisman, Deeney said: "Erling Haaland is number one, that's obvious, he's head and shoulders above everyone. " Deeney then proceeded to name the five best strikers after Haaland, opting to include a benchwarmer over Havertz - here's who he named. "I'm not sure whether he can stay onside, I know everyone's going to say, 'Oh he's changed. ' "But the style of play has changed, he's offside loads, he doesn't score a lot of his chances. "But when he scores, he scores in bunches. " "Darwin Nunez is the same [as Jackson], he's offside a lot. "He's great for the team, every chance you expect him to score, he misses. "And the harder ones he scores, it's like you're just trying to get him to slow down. "But he's an unbelievable player. " "John Duran just scores every f****** 20 minutes, he's a joke. "But he's got a lot to learn and he's been very short-term at the moment. "What happens in your first year is you get away with it, second, third and fourth year, people start planning to stop you. "He's getting that luxury right now. " "Ollie obviously had a really good season last year, he's struggled at the start of this year. "I would like him to see him be a bit more consistent. "What do you look for in a striker? I look for chances created vs chances scored. "You're obviously going to miss more than you score, it's just the nature of the beast. "But I don't feel confident when he goes through one-v-one. " "He's a finisher. I wouldn't be surprised if Chelsea get him. "But they've spent a lot of money on everyone basically. "So I don't know if they would go again, but Isak is a proper finisher. " © 2024 talk SPORT Limited

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