When Leandro Trossard left Genk for Brighton in 2019 at the age of 24, few outside of Belgium saw it coming.
He had been excellent in the Pro League, but stepping up to the Premier League was a different proposition entirely.
He made the jump, excelled at Brighton, and Arsenal eventually paid £27million to bring him to north London in January 2023.
The rest, as they say, is history.
His crucial winner at West Ham helped Arsenal secure their first Premier League title in 22 years, and he has proven to be one of the best pound-for-pound signings under Mikel Arteta.
If Leandro Trossard isn’t Arsenal’s most clutch player, who is? 🤔
Christos Tzolis is 24 years old, playing in Belgium, and Arsenal are exploring a deal for around £35million. Sound familiar?
Christos Tzolis has better numbers than Leandro Trossard did at the same age
The stats comparison between the two players at the same stage of their careers is particularly interesting.
Trossard had 60 goal contributions (39 goals, 21 assists) across 120 games at Genk. Tzolis has 88 goal contributions (43 goals, 45 assists) across 108 games for Club Brugge.
That is not to say Tzolis is definitively the better player. But the numbers make the comparison very hard to ignore.
What makes Tzolis particularly interesting is not just the goals — it is the 29 assists he registered last season alone.
That level of creativity and output suggests a player whose decision-making, movement and technical ability are operating at a really high level.
Why Christos Tzolis is a smart, low-risk move for Arsenal
The Viktor Gyokeres precedent is worth pointing out here. He was signed from the Portuguese league — a similar standard to the Belgian Pro League — off the back of extraordinary numbers, and while he did not quite replicate that output at Arsenal, he was still the club’s top scorer with 21 goals.
Some things translate. Technical quality, decision-making, the ability to find space and create chances — these are not league-specific attributes.
Arsenal also have the squad depth to help bed him in now, and unlike Gyokeres, won’t be expected to walk straight into the starting XI.
David Ornstein has confirmed via The Athletic that a move for Tzolis would not impact their pursuit of Morgan Rogers or Bradley Barcola.
This wouldn’t be the ‘statement signing’, but it would be a smart addition to the group. He would bring a similar skillset to Trossard as a facilitating, technically sharp wide player who operates in the right zones and contributes in and around the box.
He would also command significantly lower wages than a comparable player on the market from the Premier League.
Of course, Arsenal fans will point to previous cautionary tales. Albert Sambi Lokonga arrived from Belgium for £15million and never made it. Fabio Vieira came from Porto for £34million and is expected to be sold this summer for a fraction of that fee.
Development is not linear, and Belgian football is not a guaranteed pathway to Premier League success.
But it did prove to be for Trossard, and it is these sorts of deals that are a hidden ingredient to win titles.
Sometimes you get the obvious, expensive signing. Your Declan Rices. And sometimes, if you look hard enough, you find the unexpected gems. Christos Tzolis could be just that.
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