Arsenal just cannot outrun their biggest transfer window regret

Arsenal are paying the price for their failure to get a world-class left winger last summer – to the surprise of absolutely no one.

It has ranked high among their transfer interests for years and was a priority in the 2026 market, yet Christos Tzolis would be the sole recruit. The concurrent exits of both Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard killed any excitement around that £34m deal.

Holding fire is a risky move but the club felt being sub-optimal was better than rushing into panic-buy territory. Indeed, three points against Chelsea and two away wins versus Sunderland and Aston Villa – the latter two results representing a five-point swing from the last campaign – fuelled belief that their patience might just work out.

Belief which was utterly quenched on Saturday as Arsenal were outclassed at Brighton and fell to an awful 3-0 defeat.

Arsenal are being left to rue their failure to sign a marquee name at LW in the transfer window

LW is not the only reason for this loss nor is it necessarily the biggest concern from this match. As a group, the Gunners were miles off it.

But there were times at the Amex when a lack of frontline pace hurt them. Brighton’s high press saw them leave lots of space in behind yet Arsenal did not have the lightning-quick option to best exploit it, and it was during an attack involving Tzolis where that became most evident.

The score remained at 0-0 when Bukayo Saka played the ball through to the Greek international out wide and he tried to burst away from the recovering defenders, only for his modest pace to invite a strong challenge from Luka Vuskovic.

You can also blame Saka for under-hitting the pass to him. Or blame Gabriel for his bad defending for the third goal. Or point fingers at poor finishing from Kai Havertz. As I said, there are many players to look at for this loss.

However, one cannot shake off the sense that Arsenal lack X factor at LW or even just something that is as basic as speed. Given how that position was their transfer priority, the regret of not completing a deal is something Tzolis and the club literally cannot outrun.

Managing without an elite LW option until January (at the earliest) could be Arsenal’s Achilles’ Heel, and that is before you even get into the concern surrounding Tzolis and his apparent inability to play well on the road…

For now, the Gunners have made their bed and must lie in it.

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