Arsenal's Winger Shake-Up: Trossard's Exit and Barcola's Potential
Leandro Trossard’s exit from Arsenal felt like more than a tidy piece of business. It was a statement. One of Mikel Arteta’s most reliable impact players, a winger who delivered crucial goals in tight moments, has been moved on to Besiktas. North London is being stripped back and retooled again, and nobody in the forward line can assume they are safe.
Not even Gabriel Martinelli.
The Brazilian, once the explosive face of Arsenal’s new era, now finds his future under the microscope. A sale is on the table as the club weighs how to fund the next evolution of a title-winning squad. Space in the wage bill and room in the dressing room are at a premium. Arteta wants sharper edges in the final third, and the left-sided attacking role is clearly up for debate.
Arsenal’s recruitment department knows this is the window to be ruthless. The 2026-27 season will demand more than just domestic dominance. The Champions League, the competition that still eludes this project, hangs over every decision. If there is an upgrade to be found on the flanks, Arsenal are ready to listen.
Barcola on the radar
One name keeps surfacing: Bradley Barcola.
The French winger lit up the World Cup alongside Kylian Mbappé and Michael Olise, then played his part in shattering Arsenal’s European ambitions. His work for PSG across back-to-back Champions League triumphs turned admiration into irritation in north London. He hurt them. Now he might be the one to help them.
Yet for all his pedigree, Barcola is not nailed on in Paris. PSG’s forward line is a knife fight for minutes. Desire Doue, Ousmane Dembélé and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia all crowd the same spaces, all demand the ball, all come with their own price tags and expectations. Barcola, at 23, sits under contract at Parc des Princes until 2028, but he does not own a guaranteed starting berth.
That combination – high ceiling, limited status, long contract – is exactly the kind of equation that tempts big clubs into testing the resolve of even the richest sides. The 2026 summer window is open, and PSG know there is a number at which “untouchable” becomes “available.”
Arsenal, with their long and storied history of importing French talent, are being urged to find out what that number is.
Mikaël Silvestre, who knows both clubs and the Premier League trenches, did not hesitate when asked if Barcola fits Arteta’s champions. Speaking to GOAL, he called it “an obvious choice for both the player and the club,” pointing to Barcola’s work with PSG, his impact for France and the stage of his career. In Silvestre’s eyes, a young winger chasing more minutes and a club trying to retain a title and finally conquer Europe is a perfect collision of needs. “It’s a green light on my side, 100%,” he said.
Silvestre is not alone in spotting the opportunity. Arsenal are not circling in isolation.
Premier League queue forming
Barcola’s versatility and profile have drawn glances from across the Premier League. Liverpool, bracing for life after Mohamed Salah, are scouring the market for a wide forward who can both score and create, someone capable of carrying the weight of Anfield’s expectations. Manchester United, back in the Champions League and desperate for more cutting edge, are in the same aisle of the shop.
Former United striker Dwight Yorke has already nailed his colours to the mast. Speaking to GOAL, he namechecked Barcola and Desire Doue as the two players he would target from Paris if he were in charge at Old Trafford. For Yorke, the appeal is simple: both can operate on either flank, both can adapt to whatever the attack demands.
“If Marcus Rashford doesn’t want to stick around, and who knows where his head is at, go and get Doue or Barcola,” Yorke said. In his view, they are “good attacking players, solid players who are going to produce the goods on the field.”
That is the market Arsenal are shopping in. Elite, contested, unforgiving. Wait too long, and another club steps in. Move too fast, and you risk misjudging the balance of the squad. Arteta and sporting director Edu must decide whether Barcola is the winger worth reshaping their attack around – and whether Martinelli’s sale is the price of that gamble.
Alvarez, Gyökeres and the next step up front
Barcola is not the only name pinned to the board at London Colney. Arsenal’s ambitions for 2026-27 stretch beyond the flanks. The club are also weighing a blockbuster move for Argentina forward Julián Álvarez, now at Atletico Madrid after his Manchester City spell.
Álvarez comes with the glow of the biggest stage. He shared a World Cup final with Lionel Messi in 2026, falling just short of a second global crown but confirming his status as Argentina’s most influential player after the great No.10. For a club obsessed with marginal gains and mentality, that matters.
Reports suggest Álvarez could leave Atletico in a deal worth around £120 million. It is the kind of fee that instantly shifts a dressing room’s hierarchy. Pairing him with Swedish striker Viktor Gyökeres would give Arsenal a frontline with power, movement and relentless work rate – a blend that could finally crack the latter stages of the Champions League.
Silvestre sees the appeal. He pointed to Álvarez’s impact for Argentina and the difficulty of winning major trophies in Diego Simeone’s grind-heavy Atletico setup. To him, Álvarez looks like a loyal player, one not easily prised away, but his performances this season have been of the level that justifies a major outlay. In Silvestre’s view, he “would be a great signing.”
That is the scale of Arsenal’s thinking now: Barcola wide, Álvarez central, Gyökeres alongside, and a squad trimmed of those who cannot quite reach the new bar.
The Trossard sale opened the door. Martinelli’s future hangs in the balance. The next few weeks will reveal whether Arsenal are ready to turn admiration for Barcola and Álvarez into decisive moves – or whether rivals steal in and reshape the Premier League’s attacking landscape instead.
