Christos Tzolis: Arsenal's New Forward Star
Arsenal’s search for a superstar forward has dominated the noise of the summer. Inside London Colney, though, there is a growing feeling the answer might already be on the training pitch.
Christos Tzolis. The same Christos Tzolis who, not so long ago, looked lost in the Premier League.
From footnote at the Emirates to focal point
Almost five years ago, Tzolis walked out at the Emirates as a teenager for Norwich, making his Premier League debut on the left wing. Arsenal were bottom of the table, goalless after three straight defeats, and Mikel Arteta’s future hung by a thread. Lose that day and the project might never have left the ground.
Tzolis barely laid a glove on them. No shots. Little impact. Arsenal scraped a 1-0 win, Arteta survived and the club was set on a radically different course.
Last season, with Club Brugge, Tzolis saw the new Arsenal up close again. This time from the other side of the barricade.
"I can say it was the most difficult team to attack against that I’ve played so far," he admitted earlier this summer. "We played against other big teams, but against Arsenal, we had the most difficulties to make clear chances."
Now he no longer has to solve that puzzle on a matchday. Only in training.
And what a different player he looks.
The numbers that forced Arsenal’s hand
Arsenal paid around £34million for the 24-year-old after a devastating spell in Belgium. For Club Brugge last season, Tzolis produced 22 goals and 29 assists in all competitions. Those are video-game numbers, even with the Opta caveat that Belgium’s top flight sits seventh in the global league rankings.
Inside Arsenal, they saw more than just a flat-track bully. His versatility across the front line, his comfort off either foot, the way he resembles Leandro Trossard in how he drifts into pockets and manipulates the ball — all of it appealed.
So did the personality. Arteta and his staff were struck by his character and by the belief that he could raise the technical ceiling of the attacking group.
But above everything else, they saw output. Relentless, repeatable output.
Tzolis has now scored or assisted in each of his last 15 competitive club appearances, stacking up 25 goal involvements in that run. Arsenal, even as champions, did not have many forwards who could promise that kind of steady return.
Gabriel Martinelli managed one Premier League goal last season. No Arsenal player other than Viktor Gyokeres scored more than seven in the league. Martin Odegaard topped the assist charts with just six. The structure and patterns were praised and pulled apart in equal measure, yet the cold truth was simple: too many attackers were wasteful.
Arsenal’s frontline has felt streaky — brilliant for three weeks, anonymous for three more. Injuries have played their part, repeatedly removing key forwards from the rhythm of the season.
Tzolis, by contrast, barely missed a game in Belgium. Across two years, he sat out only five matches, three of those through illness. Availability became part of his appeal.
A flying start in red and white
The early signs in an Arsenal shirt have only strengthened the conviction that they were right to move.
Arriving with two weeks of pre-season and a friendly for Club Brugge already in his legs, Tzolis has looked sharp rather than rusty. He set up goals against Borussia Dortmund and Real Betis, then opened his account by curling into the far corner against Girona.
The Community Shield raised the stakes. Different level of opponent, different kind of pressure. Tzolis responded.
His deft header created Kai Havertz’s second goal, and he added another assist by picking out Odegaard in the box. Wearing the No17, gliding forward with those tight touches before cutting inside to deliver the decisive pass, he inevitably drew comparisons.
There were flashes of Alexis Sanchez in that movement and menace.
Arteta did not hide his admiration afterwards. "He's fitting, he's a really intelligent boy and he has a massive quality which is when he's in the last 20-30 metres," the manager said. "He's so composed to pick people out around the box or to finish actions. I'm really impressed with him."
Tzolis himself has long been aware of the number on his back. “Actually, I knew that he wore the number 17," he said of Sanchez when he joined. "I watched a lot of football and he was a top player for Arsenal, as a left winger always.
“He’s one of the players I looked up to when I was younger. And also, I see some similarities with him. But it’s not the reason I took the number 17.
“It’s nice (though). Alexis Sanchez had number 17 - so I hope I will have the same success.”
A changing of the guard on the left?
If there was any doubt about how highly Arsenal rate Tzolis, their stance on Gabriel Martinelli has clarified it. The Brazilian was left out of the squad entirely for the Community Shield, and the club are open to selling him this window.
That is not a minor detail. It is a statement about the pecking order.
For years, Arsenal leaned heavily on Bukayo Saka and Odegaard on the right side to provide control and end product, while the left remained more volatile. Now, with Riccardo Calafiori stepping aggressively from left-back and Tzolis thriving ahead of him, Arteta might finally be discovering the balance he has craved.
Arsenal still want more firepower. The plan when Tzolis signed was not to crown him the centrepiece of the attack, but to add him alongside a bigger, marquee arrival. That ambition has not gone away. It could still happen before this window shuts or in one to come.
Even then, Tzolis may find minutes harder to come by. For the moment, though, the left wing is his to lose.
There is depth around him. Eberechi Eze can operate from that flank if required. If no buyer is found before the deadline, Martinelli remains a high-energy alternative, and a more progressive passer in midfield — like his Brazil team-mate Bruno Guimaraes — could yet unlock him again.
But right now, as Arsenal prepare to defend their title, the equation is stark. Most of their forwards must raise their levels from last season.
Tzolis? Arsenal would happily take a carbon copy of what he has just done.
