The transfer of Leandro Trossard has been completed quickly and swiftly by Arsenal. After failing to capture the highly coveted Mykhaylo Mudryk, Arsenal had to react as soon as possible as not getting another attacker in this window could have proved to be fatal for their title chances.
Any injury to Bukayo Saka, Eddie Nketiah or Gabriel Martinelli and Arsenal would be down to bare bones considering they don’t have a single out and out attacker on the bench.
With Gabriel Jesus reportedly back in 4-5 weeks, this period of games could be extremely important and 20-something million transfer for Premier League proven Trossard who’s already on 7 goals for the season seems like an OK risk to take.
PROFILE TALK
I’ve had my immediate doubts with him coming in considering the profiles of Saka and Martinelli who are both fast dribblers in their respective touchline winger roles but looking at it now, we just had to make a move.
Mudryk seemed like a good profile for profile trade-off as he has an abundance of pace and seems like a polished dribbler capable of causing chaos but Chelsea were just prepared to fork out more.
But Trossard isn’t just a body in this squad. He came on as a late sub and was immediately involved in the winner, passing a wonderfully weighted ball into Zinchenko’s path who then crossed it in.
didn’t even clock real time but Trossard took big part in that winner pic.twitter.com/HdtA5xnkXL
— the voice of facts (@killgaspar) January 22, 2023
Straight away you could notice a slight dynamic shift, with him tucking in a lot more than Martinelli. Zinchenko could in return make the overlaps needed to stretch the pitch. That’s definitely something to keep any eye on and this dynamic could be even better with Tierney on the overlap. I’m guessing we’ll see that at some point in the Europa soon.
Trossard only had a 10 minute cameo, but he’s shown some impressive footwork retaining the ball in crowded spaces a couple of times.
PUSHING MARTINELLI
Embed from Getty Images
Martinelli has had a great season so far, notching in 7 goals and 2 assists in the league. He has been experiencing a slight downfall in form recently and Jesus not being there for him in and around the left halfspace has certainly contributed to that. Nketiah contributes in combination play but not as extensively as Jesus. He’s more of a focal point in attack who likes staying centrally more often which in return makes Martinelli a bit more isolated on the left.
But Martinelli has to keep moving forward and the Trossard addition might just be what’s needed to push him to retain his spot even more. It’s no secret how hard of a worker he is but having someone sizing up your spot in the eleven is definitely an extra incentive which will keep you on your toes.
I’m sure he’ll be out of this slightly poor patch in no time.
EUROPA AND THE FA CUP – A PLACE TO SHINE?
Embed from Getty Images
Trossard could get his chance to shine as soon as the FA Cup game against Manchester City on Friday. Both him and Emile Smith-Rowe could find themselves in the starting eleven. It’s going to be very interesting to see where Arteta uses both as they both enjoyed their best games at left wing precisely.
Arteta is likely to rotate some of the first eleven in a bid to keep the squad fresh and fit for the league.
Europa League is another competition where Trossard could get games from the start with the round of 16 games reportedly set for 9th and 16th of March.
DENOUEMENT
Leandro looks to have settled in quickly and the squad seems to have welcomed him positively. He can prove to be a key cog in Arsenal’s title charge until the end of the season. Hopefully, he can kick off his Arsenal career as soon as possible but the early signs look promising.
