Christos Tzolis: Arsenal's New Winger Ready to Shine

Christos Tzolis has barely walked through the doors at Arsenal, but he already looks like the one player in the building who is up to full speed.

Brought in to replace Leandro Trossard after the Belgian’s move to Besiktas last week, the Greek winger arrives not as a project for tomorrow, but as a weapon for right now. Arsenal see him primarily on the left, cutting in and driving at goal, yet his game stretches across the entire front line. That flexibility is part of the appeal. The end product is the rest.

Last season in Belgium, Tzolis forced his way onto Arsenal’s radar with the kind of numbers that demand attention: 22 goals, 29 assists, and a constant threat in the final third. Those figures are not padding; they are a profile. A wide forward who finishes like a striker and feeds others like a No.10 is exactly the sort of player top clubs pay close attention to.

At Brugge, he signed off in a way that will have pleased his new employers. Early July, a pre-season friendly against Feyenoord: Tzolis picked up the ball on the left, cut inside and whipped a curling shot into the top corner. Classic winger’s goal. Classic statement, too. One last reminder before he left Belgium that his form was not a quirk of the fixture list.

While much of Arsenal’s squad are still playing catch-up after the World Cup, Tzolis has quietly built a different kind of advantage. Greece did not qualify, which meant his summer break was shorter and sharper — just under four weeks off. Even that was not a full switch-off. Once he heard of Arsenal’s interest, he kept himself ticking over with solo training, working to make sure he could hit the ground running if the move went through.

It did, and he barely paused. Two weeks of pre-season with Brugge followed, including that run-out against Feyenoord, before he finalised the switch to north London. By the time Arsenal’s players reported back to the Sobha Reality Training Centre this week to officially start their own pre-season, Tzolis was already in stride.

He has joined his new team-mates on the grass, not in the gym or on a tailored programme, and at this stage of July that matters. Many in the squad are still on holiday after their World Cup exertions. Others have only just returned to full training. There was a mini-camp in Marbella last week, but it did not match the intensity of what Tzolis had already been through at Brugge.

All of that points in one direction: right now, he might be the sharpest attacker Arsenal have available.

That timing could not be better. The Gunners play their first pre-season match next weekend against Girona in Spain, and Tzolis is expected to travel with the squad. With minutes already in his legs, he is well placed to make his first appearance for the club in that game.

A new signing, a clear role, and a head start on fitness. For a winger brought in to fill the void left by Trossard, the stage is already set. Now it is down to Tzolis to show that the form he carried out of Belgium can carry him straight into Arsenal’s plans.