Christos Tzolis: Arsenal's New Winger Ready to Shine

At Arsenal’s training base in Spain, the talk keeps drifting back to a fantasy: Vinicius Jr in red and white, gliding down the left at the Emirates. The dream lingers in the background. On Saturday, though, the present cut sharply through the speculation.

Christos Tzolis, in an Arsenal shirt for the first time, picked up the ball against Girona, squared up his defender, drove inside and whipped a low shot into the far corner via a deflection. One touch, one intent, one reminder: the champions already have a new left winger.

A winger unfazed by the noise

The £34m signing from Club Brugge sits in front of the cameras in Spain, fresh from that debut goal, and listens to the inevitable question: how does it feel knowing the club is still chasing a superstar in his position?

“Obviously I'm confident as a player, so I don't think about the future and what the club will do in this position,” he says, calm and matter-of-fact.

His focus is narrower, and far more immediate.

“I'm thinking how to improve and settle as fast as possible in the club because I have the opportunity to train directly with the team from the beginning of the season, to play the friendly games and then to go to official games.

“So it's a chance to play directly from the beginning - and then it's up to me to show the qualities and what I can bring in the team. I'm pretty confident that I will show it in the next games.”

There’s no bravado in his delivery, just a quiet certainty. It fits the profile Arsenal thought they were buying: 51 goal contributions in 52 games for Brugge last season, and a player described internally as direct, honest, polite – but fiercely driven.

He was back home in Thessaloniki when his agent called to say the Premier League champions wanted him. Other clubs tried to intervene. Once he had spoken to Mikel Arteta, his decision was made.

Arteta believes Tzolis can become a cult figure in north London, a different kind of “Leo” to succeed Leandro Trossard, who has moved to Besiktas. Some Arsenal fans are still to be convinced. Tzolis knows it.

“He doesn't want [me] to do things differently than I did in Club Brugge,” he explains of his conversations with Arteta. “I think [I need] to be myself and to show on the pitch all the passion and desire to win. Because I really like to win games and to give everything.

“If I give 100 per cent for every game, every duel, who doesn't like this? That's the best thing for a football player and then always you have the support from the fans.”

‘Leonidas’ arrives

Ask Tzolis to describe himself and he picks three words: direct, creative, work rate. Inside the camp, though, he’s already earned another label.

In one of Arsenal’s major pre-season tests – a brutal 1.4km shuttle run of repeated 20, 40 and 60-metre sprints, each done five times at full tilt – the 24-year-old finished first. That was enough for one of the fitness coaches to christen him “Leonidas”, after Gerard Butler’s Spartan king in 300.

“There are not all the players here,” he says, not wanting to overplay it. “There are still some players that have to do the tests, of course. But so far I'm first in the fitness test. It's pretty hard.

“I had the advantage that I started pre-season also with Brugge so I was already training for two weeks and always I wanted to keep myself fit during summer so I was ready. I came here ready, my fitness level and I was happy that I could show it here as well.”

The nickname fits on more than one level. He replaces another “Leo” in Trossard. He is also, in his own words, a “small” forward who fights above his size.

Tzolis has built his game studying players who thrived in that mould. One name keeps coming up: David Villa.

“His body style is similar to mine,” Tzolis says. “We are not the tallest as strikers but in finishing terms, he was top level.

“I'm not saying I'm the level of David Villa but we have some similarities. He was not a striker, striker. He was an inside forward - a left pocket player who always went for goals.

“I see myself like this because I'm not always a typical wide winger. I go inside a lot and Villa, as a winger/inside forward, was top level.”

The comparison list doesn’t stop there. Another reference point is a familiar one to Arsenal supporters: Alexis Sanchez. The Chilean wore No 17 when he arrived in 2014. Tzolis has taken the same shirt.

“Of course, I watched a lot of football and he was a top player for Arsenal as a left winger,” says Tzolis. “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 No 17. It was more that there were not so many options for the lower numbers, and there was also No 18 and 19 available. I had them in the past, so I didn't want to use them again.

“So, I went for the No 17. It's nice. Alexis Sanchez had No 17 - so I hope I will have the same success.”

Inside a champion’s dressing room

Tzolis has walked into a dressing room with a very specific mission. No Arsenal side has retained the top-flight title since Herbert Chapman’s team in the 1930s. History hangs over this group, but the new signing has been struck by something more immediate: the daily standards.

“For the pre-warming up in the gym to go to training and the intensity and how serious everybody is,” he says when asked what surprised him most. “From gym exercises to recovery sessions, everyone is demanding and trying to do as best as possible and that shows the high-level standards of this team.

“Even in pre-season, everyone is serious for the friendly games, for the training, for every exercise. Of course you expect it, but I didn't know that before.

“When I see the training, and how hungry every player is for every training drill, that means everybody's ready to compete at the highest level. And when you're a player of Arsenal, you want compete for every title that's possible.

“So, it's not only about the Premier League, it's about all the competitions we are playing for. And I see a clear mindset [from the players] and that everybody is on the same page to win titles here. I have seen that in training, and when you train like that in the game, it makes it even better.”

He has lived this scenario before. At Club Brugge, he joined a squad that had just been crowned champions, only to see the title slip away the following year. That experience has shaped his view of defending a crown.

“To defend a title I think you don't have to think about it,” he says. “It's more or less more difficult for the other teams because the pressure is there, not on the team who won the title.”

So Arsenal chase Vinicius. Tzolis chases fitness tests, friendly minutes and the trust of a demanding crowd. On debut, he offered a glimpse of what he can bring. The real question now is simple: in a team of champions, can “Leonidas” carve out a kingdom of his own on that left flank?