Arsenal have opened talks with Brighton and Hove Albion for the transfer of Leandro Trossard as the Gunners look to add a winger to their ranks this month.
Trossard has had a fantastic season with Brighton so far, with the Belgian international scoring seven and assisting two goals in 16 Premier League games. But, a fallout with Seagulls manager Roberto De Zerbi has seen the 28-year-old dropped for Brighton's last two games, and with six months left on his contract, the in-form forward could be available for as little as £25million, according to talkSPORT.
Football.london understands that Arsenal are interested in Trossard, with the Gunners still looking to add a forward to their squad following long-term target Myhalio Mudryk 's move to Chelsea. According to The Metro, north London rivals Tottenham have already made a move for the Belgian, but their £12million offer was swiftly rejected.
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So, if Arsenal were to sign Trossard this month, how could he perform at the Gunners? We simulated the rest of the season with the forward in the squad to try and find out.
Arsenal's 2022/23 season simulated with Leandro Trossard
To set up this simulation, we used Football Manager 2023 to arrange for the 28-year-old to join Arsenal on January 1, 2023, using FM23 to run the simulation. We then simulated the remainder of the 2022/23 season to judge the impact the Belgian could have.
Trossard was used as a squad player by Mikel Arteta during his first few months with the club, with the Belgian failing to register a single start in all competitions. Despite this, the forward still managed to make an impact in his time at the club, scoring five times for the Gunners in 14 appearances off the bench.
Combined with his time at Brighton, Trossard scored 13 goals in all competitions, with 11 of them coming in the Premier League. Three of his goals came in the Premier League for Arsenal whilst the other two came in the Europa League, with all of his appearances coming on the left wing.
Two of his goals in the league proved to be winning goals, with one coming in the 83rd minute to beat Everton 1-0 and another coming in the 78th minute to beat Nottingham Forest 2-1. Whilst at Arsenal, Trossard averaged a rating of 7.14 per game across all competitions, with only Eddie Nketiah averaging lower among the forwards, despite scoring 10 goals.
Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli averaged the best ratings as they both tallied 16 goals for the season, whilst Gabriel Jesus ended the season as the club's top scorer with 18 goals. Trossard had the joint-best goals-per-game ratio at Arsenal, with Martinelli and Jesus also averaging 0.35 goals-per-game.
At the end of the 2022/23 season, Football Manager 2023 put together an overall best Arsenal XI, based on performances, statistics and other metrics. This is what it looked like:
Full Arsenal best XI: (4-2-3-1): Ramsdale; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Tierney; Partey, Odegaard, Vieira; Saka, Jesus, Martinelli.
Scoring much less than the rest of the front three and failing to make a start, Trossard didn't make the best XI as expected, with Martinelli, Jesus and Saka occupying the front three. In the simulation, Fabio Vieira made the best XI over Granit Xhaka after averaging a higher rating per game, whilst Kieran Tierney was selected over Oleksandr Zinchenko at left-back.
Arsenal's results with Trossard from the 2022/23 season
Arsenal continued their outstanding form into the second half of the season, with the Gunners failing to lose any games during the remainder of the campaign in the Premier League. A rough spell of results in April saw Arteta's side draw four games in a row, but they managed to still be crowned Premier League champions.
Man City, Newcastle and Man United also went through rough patches which saw the trio all lose games, with Arsenal ending the season seven points clear of Man City in second. Trossard played a big role in the title win, with his two winning goals stopping the title race from going down to the final game of the season.
In the simulation, the Gunners had the second-best attack in the league, but it's the defence that impressed, conceding just 18 goals all season. Arsenal weren't able to add any silverware to their Premier League win, being eliminated in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and Europa League.
Trossard scored in both legs of the Europa League quarter-finals against Juventus, but two late goals from Dusan Vlahovic and Arkadiusz Milik took the game to penalties, where the Belgian missed his spot-kick, and the Italian side progressed to the next round. Arsenal took the lead against Man United in the FA Cup, but three goals in four minutes saw United come from behind to win 3-1.
Overall, the Football Manager simulation predicts that Trossard could prove to be a fantastic squad option for Arsenal, with the winger managing five goals without a single start. His short-term impact helped the Gunners win an extra six points in the Premier League, ultimately helping them lift the title. What a signing!
Do you think Trossard would be a good fit for Arsenal? Let us know in the comments below!
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