MUTV commentator criticised for 'unprofessional' comments about Kai Havertz live on air

Arsenal midfielder Kai Havertz was described as "rubbish" by an MUTV commentator during Saturday night's clash against Manchester United – and plenty of fans have reacted on social media.

First-half goals from Bruno Fernandes and Jadon Sancho sealed a relatively straightforward 2-0 win for Erik ten Hag's men at the MetLife Stadium; their third consecutive win of pre-season.

A total of 82,262 fans were handed an entertaining affair in New Jersey. Fernandes celebrated becoming United's permanent captain by opening the scoring with a left-footed strike that many felt Aaron Ramsdale should have kept out.

Lisandro Martinez then lived up to his no-nonsense approach to defending by taking out Bukayo Saka with a crunching tackle.

But one of the most talked-about moments during this weekend's game happened in the commentary box, when former United winger Ben Thornley made some rather bold comments about German midfielder Kai Havertz.

With United two goals ahead in the 48th minute, Thornley said he would have taken off Havertz earlier because he was "rubbish" in the opening half.

Moments later and co-commentator Stewart Gardner asked, "What have you got against Kai Havertz?"

Commentators calling Havertz Rubbish pic.twitter.com/9zeZ7Vqvr8

— Willy marvin (@Willymarvin2) July 22, 2023

Here's how social media reacted to the above clip.

One fan said: "MUTV commentary is hilarious there’s no objectivity at all, one just went ‘They’ve taken off Havertz’ and the other went ‘Yeah because he’s rubbish’".

A second commented: "MUTV commentator has been dunking on Havertz non stop."

A third wrote: "I’m not a Havertz fan but that’s utterly distasteful and unprofessional from those commentators," while a fourth said: "MUTV commentators have really been unprofessional. The Havertz comments were unnecessary."

A fifth added: "Havertz getting called ‘rubbish’ by MUTV’s official commentators is wild."

The reported £65 million signing of Havertz from Chelsea this summer has been questioned by some, including former Sky Sports pundit Graeme Souness, who didn't hold back in his assessments.

Speaking to the Sky Bet Fan Hope Survey, he said: "I don’t think anyone would have spent £65m for Kai Havertz based on what we’ve seen from him over the last couple of years at Chelsea.

"Mikel Arteta must feel that he can improve Havertz because he wasn’t a £65m player last year.

"Maybe I’m being tough on him because he was in a struggling Chelsea team, but good players still turn up whether their team is struggling or not."

Havertz, meanwhile, is hoping to achieve "lots of things" during his stay in North London.

After penning a long-term contract, he said: "The mentality in the Arsenal squad is very high and you can feel that. That was one of the reasons why it has been so hard to play against Arsenal recently.

"The aim is to win trophies and I’m going to give everything to do that for the supporters and everyone at the club. I’m now looking forward to meeting all the players and the staff when we come back for pre-season."

Thoughts on the signing of Havertz?

Let us know in the comments.