Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta will be thanking his lucky stars and Chelsea that he was able to sign Leandro Trossard after the attacker scored the winner against Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday. Trossard was summoned from the bench to replace the injured Gabriel Martinelli and found the all-important winner in the second half, handing the Gunners three crucial points at a ground where they usually struggle.
The Spanish coach has previously hailed the ‘unpredictable’ forward after scoring against Barcelona in pre-season, crediting Trossard for working hard to reach peak condition. And he believes the Belgium international gives them a different approach in their play when he comes onto the pitch.
“He gives us something very different to the other wingers we have and he has got incredible versatility and unpredictability to play in different positions too,” Arteta said in July. “It will be good for his confidence, for sure.”
There was definitely something unpredictable about the way he fired the visitors into the lead on 67 minutes. Working the ball short from the corner, Bukayo Saka’s cutback into the box looked more hopeful than measured, but Trossard didn’t hesitate to use his finesse to stroke the ball into the far corner with help from the post.
It seems like a long time ago, but it was only back in January that Arteta was keen to add Mykhaylo Mudryk to his squad. The north London outfit submitted several bids to Shakhtar Donetsk in an attempt to agree a deal but, after learning the Ukrainian side would not budge from their £88million valuation, Chelsea swooped in and agreed a deal within a matter of hours.
Left with the feeling that their deal had been hijacked and with no obvious similar targets to Mudryk available to sign, Arteta opted to sign a player with Premier League experience to boost their ranks in the title race, paying £21m plus add-ons to Brighton to snatch Trossard in a cut-price deal. Ironically, the Blues were keen on him as well.
The Belgian needed little time to adjust to his new surroundings as he helped Arsenal with five assists in his first six appearances. In west London, things proved to be much more tricky for Mudryk, who was having to adapt to a new country where he wasn’t fluent in the language and facing the demands of a higher standard of football.
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