Arsenal target Christos Tzolis has Mikel Arteta’s key ‘macro’ skills – but is he a step up?
Christos Tzolis, in terms of numbers, was one of European football’s best attackers last season.
The 24-year-old Club Brugge forward recorded 40 goal contributions — 17 goals, 23 assists — in 36 appearances in the Belgian Pro League. Only Harry Kane (41, including 36 goals) of Bayern Munich managed more than that among the players in Europe’s top five domestic leagues.
Maybe that is enough to justify Arsenal’s interest in him, as reported by The Athletic last week. Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard, who largely played on Tzolis’ preferred left flank for the eventual Premier League winners in 2025-26, managed a combined 19 goals and 17 assists while making 53 and 50 appearances each in all competitions.
Output aside, Tzolis has the key ‘macro’ attributes that have been crucial to Mikel Arteta’s side developing into England’s champions. But could he replicate them in the more demanding Premier League?
Tzolis has evolved since a two-season spell at Norwich City, during which he scored three goals in 30 matches (including none in 14 in the Premier League). Over the past three years — one with Fortuna Dusseldorf in Germany’s second tier, then two in Bruges — he has enjoyed the responsibility of being his team’s go-to man in attack.
At Fortuna, many of Tzolis’ 24 goals came from attacking crosses at the far post. That hinted at a player who bided his time and knew exactly when, and which areas, to attack.
By the end of his 37-match stint in Dusseldorf, his overall game had improved too. The sequence below against Kaiserslautern, a few months before his summer 2024 move to Belgium, was a precursor to the initiative and bustling energy he possesses.
Tzolis starts the move in his own half and crowns it after exchanging multiple passes and easing his way past a tackle in a matter of seconds.
The 34-time Greece international (nine goals) has played in a wider position for Brugge.
He still has the pace to accelerate beyond defenders but the bigger improvement has been in his tight-window passing. When that combines with his off-the-ball running, we get moments like the one below, against Gent in May.
Tzolis starts the move from left-back and again, within seconds, forces the goalkeeper into an excellent save.
The unpredictability Tzolis brings with his movement is complemented by his shooting.
He keeps both his backlift before striking and follow-through after at a low height, and still has the strength to generate driven shots that are hard for goalkeepers to judge.
His goal against Atalanta in the Champions League last September is an example. As seen below, Tzolis’ right boot is only inches off the ground before he hits the ball…
… and gets only a foot or so clear of the turf after he lets fly.
Many of Tzolis’ goals end with that satisfying sound pitchside microphones capture when the ball is thumped into the back of the net.
The technique is useful when he wants to fizz in low shots, too. In our next clip, against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League knockout phase in February, he strikes the ball across Jan Oblak to score an 89th-minute first-leg equaliser.
This finish is an example of his two-footedness, enabling him to play across the forward line, and the immaculate timing of his runs.
At Club Brugge, Tzolis has played with athletic left-backs who can both overlap and underlap. Maxim De Cuyper, now at Brighton & Hove Albion, had that role in 2024-25, then Joaquin Seys followed suit last season.
This helped Tzolis hurt opposing full-backs in different ways.
Below against Gent, Seys shifts infield and frees up Tzolis to run on the overlap. He takes his man on, beats him on the outside, then cuts back inside and sets up Carlos Forbs.
In this next example, against the same opponents the previous season, De Cuyper stays wide and Tzolis runs in behind on the inside to assist Romeo Vermant.
Tzolis is a massive threat in transition and to retreating or disorganised defences. While he is at his best when linking up with his full-backs or left-sided midfielders, he can beat players on his own, as in the first of two examples above.
His set-piece delivery is strong too, and he can create chances with both inswingers and outswingers in those situations. Club Brugge scored from the second phase of his corners in both those February matches against Atletico.
Rounding out Tzolis’ skill set is his defensive awareness.
Club Brugge’s setup without the ball often sees them pressing with two up top. Tzolis routinely joined the press late and hassled the player in possession from his blindside. The requirement has been to stay engaged rather than be particularly aggressive.
Against the higher quality teams domestically and in Europe, Tzolis has dropped into the back line alongside his left-back to help defend wide areas and track opposition runs.
If he gets caught out, Tzolis can rely on his speed to recover ground, as he does below against Mechelen.
That pace is extremely useful in transition defending, too. Against Anderlecht in the example below, Tzolis is some distance behind the ball initially…
…but catches up to slide in and win the ball cleanly.
That pace and awareness, after some time on the training ground, could be valuable in a front-footed setup too.
Pace, physicality, versatility and defensive awareness have been the foundations of Arsenal’s recent success under Arteta. Tzolis checks all those boxes.
The big question is how well his qualities will translate to the Premier League after making little impact in his first crack at English football, albeit that was with a relegation-bound Norwich side and mostly when he was still a teenager.
Much of what Tzolis has accomplished has come with space in front of him. Martinelli similarly thrived when he had areas of the pitch he could occupy and scored 15 Premier League goals in the 2022-23 season. He has struggled as spaces have become congested, and the football has become more stop-start.
Tzolis’ ‘macro’ qualities, like those of Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres, suggest he will not be out of place back in the Premier League. But as with the Sweden striker, who struggled at times last season but ended with 21 goals across competitions, patience would be key with the Greek if Arsenal were to take their interest further.