Christos Tzolis: Arsenal's New Winger Ready to Shine

Christos Tzolis has barely walked through the doors at Arsenal, but he is already ahead of the pack.

The Greek winger, signed to fill the void left by Leandro Trossard’s move to Besiktas last week, arrives not as a project for tomorrow but as a weapon for right now. Arsenal see him primarily as a left winger, yet his game stretches across the entire front line. He is comfortable drifting, interchanging, dragging defenders into places they do not want to go.

And he brings numbers. Serious numbers.

Last season in Belgium, Tzolis hit 22 goals and laid on 29 assists, a return that forced Arsenal’s recruitment team to take a closer look. The threat in the final third was impossible to ignore. He scores, he creates, and he does both at volume.

A head start on Arsenal’s summer

Timing has worked in his favour. While much of the Arsenal squad are still easing their way back after the World Cup, Tzolis is already deep into his own pre-season.

Greece did not qualify for the tournament, which meant just under four weeks off for the 22-year-old over the summer. It was not a holiday in the traditional sense. Once he learned of Arsenal’s interest, he spent part of that break training alone, sharpening his fitness and touch with a move in mind.

Then came two weeks of pre-season with Brugge. He returned to training in early July, built up his minutes, and even played 45 minutes in a friendly against Feyenoord. He left Belgium with a flourish: cutting in off the left and bending a superb finish into the top corner, a goal that served as both a farewell and a reminder of exactly what Arsenal are buying.

So while his new team-mates only reported back to full training at the Sobha Reality Training Centre this week, Tzolis has already been through a demanding block of work. There was a mini-camp in Marbella for some of the Arsenal players last week, but that did not match the intensity of his sessions with Brugge earlier this month.

Right now, he might be the sharpest attacker in the building.

Ready for Girona

Tzolis has already joined his new team-mates on the training pitches as Arsenal officially begin their pre-season schedule. The first test comes next weekend, when the Gunners face Girona in Spain.

He is expected to travel with the squad. More than that, he is in line to make his first appearance for the club in that game.

With his legs already tuned to pre-season pace and his confidence high after a prolific year in Belgium, Tzolis steps into an Arsenal side still rubbing the sleep from its eyes.

The question now is not whether he is ready for Arsenal.

It is how quickly Arsenal are ready for him.