Alternative targets Trossard and Jorginho, making big difference for Arsenal
If Arsenal do go on to lift the Premier League trophy this season they may want to reflect on the roles played by Jorginho and Leandro Trossard in adding new dimensions to the team since their low-key arrivals in January.
Having lost out to Chelsea on João Félix and their top target, Mykhailo Mudryk, Arsenal turned to another winger a couple of days later.
Tottenham Hotspur had tested the waters for Trossard by offering Brighton & Hove Albion £12 million, having sought advice from some of their former players, including Jan Vertonghen, who played alongside the 28-year-old for Belgium.
Trossard had been agitating towards a move away from Brighton, and Tottenham were looking for competition for Son Heung-min, who was in indifferent form at the start of the year.
Tottenham, though, did not carry through their interest, leaving the door open for Arsenal.
Mikel Arteta was in need of forward options after Gabriel Jesus had suffered a serious knee injury at the World Cup, and his assistant, Albert Stuivenberg, vouched for Trossard’s character having worked with him while with Genk.
Having signed for £21 million, rising to £27 million, Trossard has made a strong start, with his one goal and two assists in the league meaning that he has been involved in a goal every 97 minutes — the best rate of any Arsenal player who has played at least 250 minutes.
In the past two games the winger has been deployed in a new role as a false No 9, allowing him to roam up front where he has proved as adept as Jesus at interchanging positions with Gabriel Martinelli. Trossard switched to the left when Martinelli doubled the lead against Everton last night, just as he did when he created the only goal for the Brazilian in the 1-0 win over Leicester City on Saturday.
He also moved to the same flank to create the chance to cross for Martin Odegaard to add a third in the 4-0 win over Everton.
Arteta believes that Trossard’s presence has helped to unlock Martinelli, who had gone eight matches without a goal across all competitions.
“Relationships and chemistry build naturally,” Arteta said. “Gaby is building that with Leo and he feels a bit more freedom to move into certain areas. Now his confidence is high again. He’s scoring and producing goals and is in a good mood.”
The deal for Trossard went through comparatively smoothly, which was not the case when Arsenal returned to Brighton a week later in an attempt to prise away Moisés Caicedo, the Ecuador midfielder, having learnt that Mohamed Elneny would be out for the season.
Brighton were unhappy about being offered £60 million for a player they valued at £80 million and were further infuriated by the way the league leaders handled the negotiations.
They dug in and rejected a second offer of £75 million, leaving Arsenal to scramble around and move for Jorginho for £13 million from Chelsea with little more than 24 hours left of the transfer window.
Despite arriving with little fanfare, Jorginho has quickly risen to the top of the Arsenal charts for successful and forward passes per league game since arriving from Chelsea.
The 31-year-old was thrust immediately into the fray as cover for the injured Thomas Partey and made a telling impact in only his third game.
The Italy midfielder’s long-range shot hit the crossbar before rebounding in off Emiliano Martínez for an own goal to put Arsenal 3-2 up away to Aston Villa in stoppage time.
At the time Arsenal’s challenge was in danger of faltering, after taking one point from a possible nine.
Against Villa, Jorginho made 14 progressive passes, which are defined as passes into the box or ones that move a side closer to goal by at least ten yards.
He made 15 against Leicester City on Saturday and threaded passes to Bukayo Saka have brought more variety for Arsenal, who previously used Ben White’s overlapping runs, to create space for the England winger.
While they have hit the ground running, Mudryk has shown only a glimpse of his promise — and that was on debut — since joining Chelsea and is yet to record a goal or assist in five league appearances, totalling 180 minutes on the pitch. He has been a substitute in the past two matches.
Félix, who is on loan from Atletico Madrid, has one goal. They were part of Chelsea’s January outlay that amounted to £323 million, more than the combined outlay by clubs in Serie A, LaLiga, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 in the winter transfer window. Chelsea have won once since their arrival and are no closer to finding a winning formula. The £39 million for Jorginho and Trossard is looking better value for money by the game.
