Arteta Has Hit the Jackpot on Arsenal’s ‘wizard’, Who is Now Worth More Than Olise

It’s been another brilliant season for Arsenal this year and while the ultimate fate of the Premier League now rests in the hands of Manchester City, the Gunners look set to keep challenging for some time to come.

The North Londoner’s rejuvenation was due in large part to the combined efforts of manager Mikel Arteta and sporting director Edu Gaspar.

The pair have turned the club’s history of lackluster transfer dealings on its head by overseeing a string of successful signings in recent years.

Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice and Ben White were all game-changing additions to the team, but another new addition deserves just as much praise and his recent appreciation is proof of that.

Leandro Trossard’s Arsenal career

The player is Belgian international Leandro Trossard, who moved to the Gunners from Brighton & Hove Albion in the middle of last season.

Although new signings can often take a while to get used to the new team and surroundings, the Maasmechelen-born winger looked at home from his first appearance.

By the end of the season, the 29-year-old had provided ten assists and scored one goal in just 22 appearances – eleven of them as a starter – meaning he was involved in an average of one goal in every other game from the start.

His most impressive performance came at Fulham in mid-March, when, in just his sixth appearance as an Arsenal player, he delivered a hat-trick of first-half assists, effectively winning the game for his team before half-time.

At the end of the season, the right-footed “wizard” was named described by journalist Charlie Haffendenhad the second-most assists of any Arsenal player in all competitions, which is truly remarkable given the significant lead his teammates had over him.

This season, the hugely talented Belgian seemed to have grown bored of being the provider last year and has shifted his focus to scoring goals. As things stand, he has hit the goal 16 times in 44 appearances and still picked up two assists for good.

All in all, Trossard was an unequivocal success at Arsenal and the impressive finances behind the deal only make his impact all the more remarkable.

Leandro Trossard’s review in 2024

Arsenal paid Brighton just £27 million to sign the 28-year-old winger. This deal was widely seen as a replacement option after missing out on the much more expensive Mykhailo Mudryk to Chelsea.

The 5ft 7in attacker was also paid a reasonable salary of £90,000 a week and so there was little expectation that he would continue to make the kind of impact he has.

But a year and a half later, the 33-time international’s performances have been so impressive that his value has actually increased, even though he turns 30 this year – four years after his peak, according to The Athletic.

According to the CIES Football Observatory, the Arsenal winger is now worth €40m, which is around £34m, or £7m more than he cost the Gunners last January.

To put that in context, according to the same website, he is worth the same as Ben White and David Raya. Interestingly, it is also €10m – £9m – more than the valuation of the very exciting Michael Olise of Crystal Palace across the Premier League, which just goes to show how impressive the former Genk player’s performances have been.

This season too, Olise was simply exceptional: in an injury-related phase in which he only played 17 times, he scored nine goals and prepared four. Still, that has been enough of late to link him with a move to Arsenal.

Although the signings of Rice and Havertz are likely to have a greater impact on the club’s long-term development, the decision to sign Trossard last season was a brilliant one and his recent valuation is further evidence of that fact. Imagine if they got Olise too.