Arsenal’s brand-new attacking signing Leandro Trossard made his debut in the 3-2 win over Manchester United. It was his ball which fed Oleksandr Zinchenko to then be crossed in to see Eddie Nketiah score the winner.
Trossard was certainly not Arsenal’s first choice with a protracted chase of Mykhailo Mudryk ending in failure. However, the experienced former Brighton man has been perceived as a smart piece of business to give the Gunners some immediate impact in what is a massive season for the club.
Leandro Trossard joined Brighton from Belgian side Genk where he developed his game and earned the interest of the Premier League side. He made 120 appearances across all competitions for Genk and football.london caught up with his former team captain and Genk club legend Thomas Buffel to discuss his countryman.
READ MORE: Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi believes Leandro Trossard can still improve ahead of Arsenal move
The step up to one of Europe’s elite clubs seemed an inevitability for Trossard however Buffel admits that despite earlier interest from Arsenal the winger made the switch to Brighton to mature as a player. It is fair to say this has been a career choice that has significantly benefitted his game time and opportunity.
“It’s a very good transfer for Leandro and he deserved his next step after his great spell at Brighton,” said Buffel. “Arsenal were interested earlier at Genk but he was too young and now he’s shown at Brighton he can be very decisive.
“That's the kind of players that the top clubs are looking for and Arsenal obviously with Arteta are a team that likes to play football so that was necessary as well - early on - to get on the ball between the lines. He has good feet, and he can play and link up so I think he can be a good player for Arsenal."
Trossard was at Genk from 2012 through to 2019 and so spent six years at the Belgian side with Buffel who left in 2018 after nine years himself. Buffel highlights Trossard’s confidence which sometimes perhaps went too far but that the loan spells away helped him to grow.
“I think there are two Leandros, the first when he was very young, he already had good feet, but he was quite light, and he had to go on a loan spell to get more mature,” Buffel explains. “Even when he was at Genk and very young, he had self-belief, maybe a little too much at that time as the coaches said he had to wait a little bit and be modest, but he showed character.
“He didn’t really play at that time though and went on loan to Leuven where he did very well and came back with more physical abilities. At Genk he was strong on the ball, you could not get the ball from him, he used better his body between the ball and defenders."
At Arsenal, the expectations are very different to Brighton. The aims and objectives are more ambitious and unlike his previous clubs there are certainly tougher pathways to regular football.
The opposition also changes. Although the teams are the same in the league, how they approach Arsenal compared to Brighton creates different tests but Buffel believes that Trossard will not have a problem with this.
“Now week by week he will need to show that he can assist or score a goal or be a very good player between the lines and with the positional game that the coach can rely on. To make it at a club like Arsenal you have to take it week by week, game by game, with the best players and show that you can produce and be consistent.
“The teams maybe will defend a bit lower but for Leandro, this is not a problem. He has very good technique to play between the lines and even give some final passes between the spaces.”
Leaving Brighton, Trossard had what became a very publicly known falling out with manager Roberto De Zerbi. Asked if Buffel was surprised this was the case, it became apparent that Trossard’s self-belief can perhaps be an issue but his former teammate believes that football remains the main focus for him.
“Leandro is very self-determined and sometimes this can have some discussions with the coach if the coach sees things differently. But at the end, I think he’s not the most difficult guy and he is open for discussion
“I think he has not a lot of friends in football, but he has his own friends that he goes along with. His focus is on the football."
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