Christos Tzolis is quietly answering the Bradley Barcola question already

Arsenal thrashed Manchester City 3-0 in their first competitive match of the season a few days ago, as they won the Community Shield for the third time under manager Mikel Arteta.

Arsenal played Man City completely out of the park, as they put in one of their best performances in recent months – certainly their best among all the friendlies they have played so far.

It was also their best match against City in quite some time – they have not beaten them this convincingly in over a year, when they thrashed them 5-1 in the Premier League.

Beating them after winning the league must have felt nice for all Arsenal players and fans, but it was also quietly a performance for the ages for their new signing, Christos Tzolis.

Christos Tzolis is already proving Arsenal already have a world-class winger

Tzolis has been a very impressive presence for Arsenal since joining the club earlier in the summer. He has shown a level that is good enough for the team in all of his friendly appearances, registering a goal or assist in each game he’s had a meaningful part in.

The game against Manchester City was no different, as he was able to register two assists – one to Kai Havertz for the second, and an assist to Martin Odegaard’s goal – which was effectively the icing on a dominant, Arsenal-red cake.

In fact, Tzolis is now on a run of 19 club games in a row (at least 30 minutes played) where he has registered a goal or an assist. That is simply insane.

It begs the question: do Arsenal really even need Bradley Barcola? The argument still exists, of course – Arsenal need an X-Factor, a player who can will the team to victory all by himself, with something individual and special. That alone, in itself, is worth asking, but it is not like they are dying for a great left-winger anymore.

If Barcola ends up arriving at the club, that would be brilliant, as they would then have the Frenchman and Tzolis as their left-wingers, provided Gabriel Martinelli ends up leaving.

However, even if he does not end up joining, Arsenal are no longer in a rush to sign a brilliant player who can produce output from the left. They have sold Leandro Trossard and upgraded on him with Tzolis, who already has five goal contributions.

If your argument is that they have done it in friendlies, well, those are the only games that Tzolis has played for Arsenal. Yes, it can be considered a premature assessment, but at the same time, he played against one of the best teams in England last night, and looked like he had been at Arsenal for a very long time.

Obviously, it will be better to make this conclusion in a few weeks, when fans have seen more of Tzolis. However, if Barcola never arrives, Tzolis is already an upgrade that Arsenal have wanted for years, and he’s already proving it.

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