Arsenal is about to send Leandro Trossard to Turkey. According to Adam Leventhal and James McNicholas of The Athletic, Besiktas has agreed to a €20 million deal with the Gunners for the 31-year-old winger. That breaks down to about €18 million upfront and another €2 million in add-ons. In pounds, it’s around £17.1 million.
The move isn’t a shock. Arsenal has been looking to upgrade its left flank all summer, and both Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli have had futures in question. Trossard now appears to be the first one out.
How Trossard got here in the first place
This is where the story gets weird and kind of funny if you’re an Arsenal fan. Back in the winter of 2023, the club was obsessed with signing Mykhailo Mudryk from Shakhtar Donetsk. They had personal terms agreed. They thought they were in pole position. Then Chelsea swooped in with a bigger offer and paid £88 million for him. Arsenal was left scrambling.
With days left in the window, they pivoted to Trossard and paid Brighton roughly £24 million to £27 million. It felt like a consolation prize at the time.
Fast forward to now. Trossard has scored eight goals and added 11 assists this past season. He won a Premier League title with Arsenal. Mudryk? He’s serving a four-year ban for a doping offense. One of those transfers worked out pretty well. The other one is a cautionary tale about throwing money at a problem.
The numbers still work for Arsenal
Trossard delivered consistent output from the moment he arrived. Eight goals and 11 assists in a season is solid production for a rotational attacker. But he’s 31 now, and Arsenal clearly wants to get younger and more explosive on the left. Recouping €20 million for a player his age with one year left on his deal is decent business. It’s not a steal, but it’s fair.
There’s no word yet on whether Trossard will accept the personal terms Besiktas is offering. That’s the next hurdle. But the clubs have a deal in place, and the expectation is that he’ll move on.
It leaves Arsenal with some cap space and an open slot to go find that upgrade. Martinelli might still be on the roster, but his name has been floating around in rumors too. The door isn’t shut on anything yet.
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