Arsenal's transfer window has been dominated by talk of signing a new forward but Christos Tzolis has shown that the Gunners already have an attacker they can get excited about. The £34m summer signing from Club Brugge produced two assists as the Gunners beat Manchester City 3-0 to win the Community Shield at the Principality Stadium and his performance will have fans extremely excited. The Greece international has been one of Arsenal's standout performers across pre-season and continued that form against Manchester City on the left wing.
His headed assist for Kai Havertz was weighted to perfection while his pass for Martin Odegaard's goal to put Arsenal three-up came at the end of a quick dribble. Tzolis became the first player to assist two goals in a Community Shield since David Beckham in 1996 and the winger has shown his ability to provide for his team-mates already this pre-season. He was already known for his ability to take a quality set-piece and in a side where corners and free-kicks are a fundamental part of their identity, Tzolis displayed he will be a key taker alongside Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka.
Tzolis provided two assists in pre-season against Real Betis and Borussia Dortmund while he got on the scoresheet himself against Girona in the build up to this match. But it has not always been an easy journey for the 24-year-old to the elite levels of the game. Arsenal cruise to Community Shield win against disappointing Man City Odegaard's importance, Anderson and Foden struggle - how the players rated Arsenal moved for Tzolis after the best season of his career where he was involved in 40 goals, scoring 17 times and providing 23 assists as Club Brugge were crowned league champions in Belgium.
But before that there had been struggles, notably during his three years at Norwich, scoring just three times in 30 appearances between 2021-2024. He impressed while on loan at German second-tier side Fortuna Dusseldorf in 2023-24, where he scored 24 goals in 35 games before he left Norwich for Club Brugge and became one of star players in the division. Since then he has not looked back and Tzolis has developed to become one of the most reliable creators in Europe.
Alongside his two assists, he played more passes into the final third than anyone else in the Gunners team in Cardiff and, despite lacking noticeable pace, Tzolis is extremely effective while on the ball with his work-rate appreciated by manager Mikel Arteta. Tzolis has replaced Leandro Trossard, who joined Besiktas in July, and Arteta has said there are similarities between the pair. Trossard recorded more goal involvements in last season's Champions League, but the Greece international produced almost twice as many chances (13 compared to seven) and completed more passes in the final third (138 compared to 80).
Tzolis' performance will not be a surprise for those who have followed his career as he has proved he can shine against Europe's top sides already. In last season's Champions League he scored against Atalanta and Atletico Madrid, while registering an assist against Barcelona. Of the 135 chances he created in the Belgian Pro League across the 2025-26 campaign, 52 came from dead-ball situations (38.5%), with his assist for Piero Hincapie against Real Betis during pre-season via a corner.
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