Christos Tzolis: Arsenal's New Left Winger Shines on Debut

At Arsenal’s sun‑soaked camp in Spain, the chatter keeps drifting back to Vinicius Jr. The dream, the marquee name, the statement signing.

But in Girona on Saturday, the reminder was sharp and immediate: Arsenal already have a left winger worth talking about.

Christos Tzolis, on his debut, picked up the ball on that flank, drove at his man with a kind of stubborn certainty, cut inside and drilled low into the far corner. A nick off a defender helped it on its way, but the intent was all his. One stride, one swing, one new name for Arsenal fans to get used to.

A winger unfazed by the noise

Mikel Arteta has already told anyone who will listen that Arsenal supporters are going to enjoy this Greek winger. The goal in Catalonia backed that up. Yet the club still explore the possibility of signing a superstar in his position.

Tzolis doesn’t flinch.

“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 pre-season base. The words are calm, but there’s an edge there – the edge of someone who expects to play, not just make up the numbers.

He talks about the opportunity in front of him, not the threat behind him.

“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 his first formal interview since completing a £34m move from Club Brugge, where his numbers last season were outrageous: 51 goal contributions in 52 matches. On camera and off it, he comes across as direct, courteous, but driven. Very driven.

The call that changed everything came while he was back home in Thessaloniki. His agent told him the Premier League champions wanted him. Other clubs tried to muscle in. Once he’d spoken to Arteta a few times, the decision was made.

‘Be yourself’ – and the Trossard shadow

Arteta sees a potential cult hero in Tzolis, the kind of player Leandro Trossard quietly became before his move to Besiktas this summer. Some supporters will need convincing that the new No 17 can match that influence. Tzolis has a simple plan.

“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.”

Direct. Creative. Work rate. Those are the three traits he picks out when asked to describe himself as a player. Inside the Arsenal camp, though, he’s already being praised for something else.

‘Leonidas’ and the first big statement

The first big test came without a ball. A brutal 1.4km running drill: 20 metres and back, 40 and back, 60 and back. Each distance, five times. Full tilt.

Tzolis finished top of the group.

One of Arsenal’s fitness coaches gave him a nickname on the spot: “Leonidas”, after Gerard Butler’s Spartan king in 300.

“There are not all the players here,” he says, downplaying it slightly. “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 in more ways than one. He arrives as the direct replacement for another “Leo” in Trossard. And in Greek history, Leonidas led a small, fearless force against a vast Persian army.

Tzolis is no giant. He knows that. He embraces it.

Modelled on Villa, echoing Alexis

When he talks about his footballing influences, the picture becomes clearer. He lights up when David Villa’s name comes up.

“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 doesn’t stop there. He also sees himself in the mould of Alexis Sanchez, the former Arsenal livewire who wore No 17 when he arrived in 2014. Tzolis has taken that number now.

“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.”

That’s the bar he’s quietly setting for himself. Villa’s movement. Alexis’ edge. Arsenal’s left side.

Inside a champion’s dressing room

Tzolis walks into a club chasing a kind of history it hasn’t tasted for almost a century. No Arsenal side has retained the top-flight title since Herbert Chapman’s teams of the 1930s. The Greek winger has joined just as they try to end that wait.

What’s struck him most is not the trophies on the wall but the daily grind.

“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 about Arsenal.

“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’s lived this scenario before. At Club Brugge, he joined newly crowned champions and then watched the title slip away the following season. The lesson stayed with him.

“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.”

That’s his reading of the psychology. Act like champions. Let everyone else obsess over catching you.

Arsenal may yet push for Vinicius Jr. They may still land another headline name on that left flank. But in Girona, and in those lung-bursting runs in Spain, Christos Tzolis has already made his first argument.

If he keeps playing – and running – like this, the question won’t be whether Arsenal need another left winger.

It will be who can take the shirt off him.