Christos Tzolis: Arsenal's New Star Winger
At Arsenal’s training base in Spain, the conversation keeps drifting towards fantasy. Vinicius Jr, the marquee name, the superstar left winger who might yet arrive. But on Saturday in Girona, reality cut in from the touchline, dropped a shoulder and found the bottom corner.
Christos Tzolis already wears the shirt.
On his first outing in Arsenal colours, the Greek winger picked up the ball on the left, went straight for his man, chopped inside and drove a shot low into the far corner, helped by a slight deflection. It was a pre-season friendly in Catalonia, nothing more on paper. On the pitch, it felt like an introduction.
Mikel Arteta has been telling anyone who asks that Arsenal supporters will enjoy this player. Tzolis, 24, looks determined to make sure that prediction sticks, even as the club explores the market for another star on “his” flank.
“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, speaking to reporters at Arsenal’s camp. The answer is calm, unflustered. No hint of insecurity about the Vinicius noise swirling around him.
He has something else on his mind.
“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.”
This is Tzolis’ first extended sit-down since completing his £34m move from Club Brugge. The numbers he brings with him are eye-catching: 51 goal contributions in 52 games last season. The personality is less flamboyant, more measured. Direct, honest, polite. Underneath that, a streak of steel.
He was at home in Thessaloniki when his agent called to say the Premier League champions wanted him. Other clubs tried to get involved, but a few conversations with Arteta closed the door. The Arsenal manager sees a potential cult figure, someone who can step into the space Leandro Trossard occupied before his move to Besiktas.
There is, of course, a question attached to that. How do you convince a fanbase that has just lost a favourite that you belong in that role?
“He doesn't want [me] to do things differently than I did in Club Brugge,” Tzolis explains of his early talks 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 keeps it simple: direct, creative, high work rate. Inside the camp, though, he’s already picked up another label.
During Arsenal’s pre-season testing, the squad were put through a brutal 1.4km running drill at full tilt: 20 metres and back, 40 and back, 60 and back, each distance repeated five times. Tzolis finished top of the pile among those tested so far. One of the fitness coaches gave him a new nickname on the spot.
Leonidas.
“There are not all the players here,” he says, keen not to get carried away. “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 Leonidas tag fits neatly. He is, after all, the direct replacement for another Leo in Trossard. But the reference to the Spartan king who led a small Greek force against a vast Persian army feels even more pointed when you listen to Tzolis talk about his game.
“Small Greek force” could be his scouting report.
He has built his style studying forwards who lived in the half-spaces, not glued to the touchline. One name in particular keeps coming up.
“His body style is similar to mine,” Tzolis says of Barcelona and Spain great David Villa. “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.”
Another reference point is far closer to home for Arsenal supporters. Alexis Sanchez, who arrived in north London in 2014 and took the No 17 shirt. Tzolis has chosen the same number.
“Of course, I watched a lot of football and he was a top player for Arsenal as a left winger,” he says. “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.”
A champion stepping into a champion’s dressing room
Tzolis walks into a club with a target on its back. Arsenal are not just contenders; they are the team everyone wants to take down. No Arsenal side has defended the top-flight crown since Herbert Chapman’s great teams of the 1930s. This group is trying to write itself into that company.
From what he has seen in a short time, the Greek winger believes the mentality is already tuned to that challenge.
“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 on arrival.
“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 knows the flip side. Two seasons ago, he joined Club Brugge as newly crowned champions. They failed to keep their title. The lesson, he insists, is not to stare at the trophy you already own.
“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 history while the outside world debates whether a Galáctico-style left winger might still arrive. Tzolis doesn’t waste energy on that argument. He has a different battle in mind: winning duels, scoring goals, proving that the club already has a “small Greek force” capable of leaving a giant mark on the season.
