Morning Gooners! It’s all starting to heat up now!!! I’m really not sure why, but the transfer season has always been a very exciting time for me and now with the World Cup coming to an end, it feels like it’s finally ready to launch for Arsenal.
First deal already done
I do feel a bit bad now I write this, but I didn’t think the deal for Illan Meslier was blog post worthy. Sorry, Illan! As much as I love the transfer rumour mill and getting deals over the deal and all that good stuff, back-up ‘keepers is where I draw the line unfortunately. Therefore given that Meslier is being billed as ‘third choice’, this is probably as unexciting as it gets, in terms of transfers.
That said, we obviously welcome Meslier to Arsenal and hope that he manages to play a successful role in Arsenal’s coming seasons. I must admit, I wasn’t thrilled at the prospect, when this link first appeared, as I can think of a few howlers that this guy has dropped over the last few years, but we have to trust Andrea Berta and Inaki Cana know what they’re doing and give the signing our backing. At the end of the day, if Meslier is going to be third choice, I don’t have an issue with that, as in theory, he’s going to play very little football for Arsenal, all being well.
This signing also allows Arsenal to loan out top ‘keeper prospect Tommy Setford, which I think he needs for his development, so it ticks a lot of boxes – first signing done.
Quick mention
The next piece of news deserves it’s own blog post, but I’ll just signpost it here for context as the next section is very much related to the first major departure of the summer.
After what feels like years of speculation, Leandro Trossard has left the club and has transferred to Turkish side Besiktas.
It’s a deal that makes a lot of sense from pretty much every angle, but it’s still a bit sad to say goodbye to someone who has left us with some unbelievable memories and playing a key role in bringing that title back home where it belongs. More on this later, but basically, the Belgian has moved on and we have a squad space to fill…
Tzolis incoming
A few week back, I posted a blog surrounding Club Brugge winger, Christos Tzolis, and how I didn’t feel the deal was as close as it seemed, after the initial Orn-bomb, from the ever reliable, David Ornstein. As much as that was probably strictly true, it does seem as though Berta and his team had got this deal to a point where they could just pull the trigger whenever they were ready and after the depature of Leandro Trossard on Wednesday, it seems that time is now! The second Orn-bomb dropped yesterday afternoon, confirming a few rumours that had been circling in the days prior, stating that Arsenal had reached a deal to sign Christos Tzlois for €40m and that the deal was as good as done (although a few key details – like actually putting in a bid – still remained) .
So Trossard out, Tzolis in…how do we all feel about that?
As with any deal, time will be the real judge of if it’s a good deal or not, but on the face of it, I’m happy with it. I think the key with this one, is to look at the deals in isolation, rather than thinking along with lines of we’re swapping an established star for what feels like a gamble.
The deal for Trossard makes good financial sense, as we’re getting a good price on a player who’s value both financially and as member of this squad is probably going to deteriorate from this point onwards. It also makes sense from a footballing point of view, as despite the legendary goal against West Ham, Trossard offered little output in the second half of the season and his form has been known to be a bit patchy during the duration of his time at Arsenal. Many Arsenal fans have been calling for an upgrade on our left hand side and if we sold Trossard and brought in someone like Bradley Barcola, I think the vast majority of Gooners would agree that would improve the squad. So selling Trossard was the right thing to do.
So the next question is, was bringing in Christos Tzolis as the correct deal? I think it probably was, based on what key factor – someone else has to come in. If we start the new season as with Tzolis and Gabriel Martinelli as our only left wing options, that’s not improved an area of the pitch, that has needed looking at for at least two years, maybe more.
I don’t think that will happen. All of the posts from reliable sources on the Tzolis deal are very clear that this is a separate deal from the proposed marquee left wing signing, so I’m confident someone else will come in and therefore I think this is a good deal, especially at the quoted price.
Is it a gamble? Yes, I think it probably is, but based on his numbers last season and the recent trajectory of his development, I think it’s a measured gamble. Similar to the deal with Viktor Gyokeres last summer, we knew he wouldn’t bring in 48 goals in this league and likewise we can’t expect Tzolis to bring his 22 goals and 29 assists from the Belgian league into the Premier League. I know it’s not as simple as this, but Viktor Gyokeres scored 21 goals in all competitions for his last season, including a few really vital ones, so that’s around 44% of his return in Portugal, so let’s say half to be generous. If Tzolis finishes next season with 11 goals and 14.5 assists, that would be an unbelievable return and a truly exceptional signing. Again, I know it’s not as simple as this, but for a bit of context, I think the point rings true. The Belgian league is not close to the level of Premier League, but then again the players are Club Brugge are not at the level of our players either, so there’s important context when judging a player from another league. That’s why we never really know if it’s a good deal until after the fact, and therefore it must be classed as a gamble.
I’ve seen a lot made of his so-called ‘lack of pace’ as well and I think that just fits people’s narrative who want to criticise the signing. He’s not got Martinelli pace, but he’s definitely not slow and I’d say he’s comfortably quicker than Trossard, based on what I’ve seen and probably a similar sort of level to Saka, pace-wise.
So to summarise, I’m in favour of the signing. Tzolis definitely seems like he’s got an eye for goal and can probably go up a couple of levels as well and he’s already performing well in Champions League games and putting up excellent number, albeit in an inferior league, so there’s a lot to like about the deal. I know Mikel Arteta loves himself a proven Premier League player, but there’s absolutely no value there at the moment, so we need to get a bit creative if we want to cover other areas of the pitch this window and this seems like a smart move. Let’s see how well this blog post ages….