Arsenal have confirmed that Kai Havertz has sustained a severe hamstring injury in Dubai and will undergo surgery in the coming days, which will rule him out of the rest of the season.
The Germany international was said to have suffered the devastating blow on Tuesday, although at the time, there were no indications how serious his hamstring issue was.
However, reports emerged on Wednesday claiming that Havertz had indeed torn his hamstring and would not play again this season, a diagnosis which has now been announced by the club.
In a medical update issued on Thursday afternoon, Arsenal announced that the 25-year-old will soon be going under the knife, and he is likely to still be rehabilitating by the time pre-season rolls around.
"We can confirm that Kai Havertz has sustained a hamstring injury during a training session in Dubai last week," the Gunners said.
Arsenal confirm Havertz hamstring injury and imminent operation
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"Subsequent assessments and specialist reviews have confirmed that the injury will require surgery, which will take place in the coming days.
"Soon after surgery, Kai will begin his recovery and rehabilitation programme, which is expected to extend into pre-season preparations for next season. Everyone at the club is fully focused on supporting Kai to ensure he is back to full fitness as soon as possible."
Confirmation of Havertz's season-ending injury represents an especially gut-wrenching blow for Arsenal, who are already without another centre-forward in Gabriel Jesus for the rest of the campaign due to his ACL problem.
Bukayo Saka is also several weeks away from making a return from his own hamstring operation, and Gabriel Martinelli is facing around a month out on account of a similar problem sustained against Newcastle United in the EFL Cup.
Havertz is comfortably Arsenal's top scorer in the current campaign with 15 goals across all competitions, netting nine times in the Premier League and four in the Champions League, and the Gunners' first game since his injury comes away to Leicester City on Saturday lunchtime.
What next for Arsenal after Havertz blow confirmed?
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At the risk of sounding like a broken record, if Martinelli's hamstring problem did not see Arsenal's January transfer gamble backfire heavily, Havertz's season-ending injury undoubtedly has.
Unless the Gunners make a shock move for a free agent such as Diego Costa, Ryan Kent or Wissam Ben Yedder, Mikel Arteta must find solutions internally between now and the summer; the problem is, there are hardly any of them.
Arteta's only three remaining senior attackers - if you can call a 17-year-old senior - are Ethan Nwaneri, Leandro Trossard and Raheem Sterling, who may very well now be worrying about injuries of their own as they prepare to start almost every game for at least a few weeks.
While Trossard is not a true centre-forward, 22-year-old Nathan Butler-Oyedeji is, but the Arsenal academy graduate only just made his senior debut for the Gunners in their Champions League win over Dinamo Zagreb last month.
Could such desperate times call for such desperate measures as a Mikel Merino or a Gabriel Magalhaes up front? Probably not, but Arteta has already admitted that he will have to try different solutions in the coming weeks, and nothing can be ruled out if the Gunners' crisis worsens even further.
Ben Knapton
