Arsenal’s £17m transfer decision now looks like it could be a mistake
It was mostly anticipated heading into the summer that Arsenal would sell Leandro Trossard.
So it wasn’t a surprise when the Belgian joined Besiktas for £17million in July.
At 31 and with his contract running down, that felt like reasonable value for the forward.
And with Arsenal actively pursuing Morgan Rogers, Vinicius Jr and others to upgrade the left wing, the money would go towards a proper upgrade.
Christos Tzolis was signed as a direct replacement from Club Brugge, but no replacement was signed for Gabriel Martinelli or Gabriel Jesus.
That leaves Arsenal looking thinner than they were last season, raising questions about whether selling Trossard was the right call after all.
Arsenal may regret letting Leandro Trossard leave this season
Trossard wasn’t always flashy. He’s not an elite winger, nor does he have the ‘X-factor’ Mikel Arteta is craving in his frontline.
But he was reliable, experienced in big moments, and had a knack for producing when it mattered most.
He came up with crucial goals throughout Arsenal’s title-winning campaign, most notably that winner at West Ham. He feels like the kind of player you don’t fully appreciate until he’s gone.
Trossard still has plenty to offer — he looked excellent at the World Cup, where he was arguably Belgium’s best attacking player.
And he’s never been a player that has relied on pace or struggled with injuries, so it’s hard to envision him drastically declining yet.
Tzolis could turn out to be a really smart pickup, but the jury is still out on his actual level.
He looked great against Coventry and in the Community Shield against City. But against Aston Villa he was poor and deservedly subbed at half-time.
It has opened up a huge opportunity for Eberechi Eze to make the left-wing position his own.
But Arteta has given Eze chances in that role before and he’s not always delivered. Trossard was a safe bet.
Selling both him and Martinelli made sense if a top attacker was coming in, but that didn’t happen. And that, with hindsight, is the problem.
