Arsenal completed the signing of Christos Tzolis for a reported £34m this summer as Mikel Arteta looks to add more goals to his forward line
14:27, 30 Jul 2026
"An excellent finisher with both feet, thrives in tight spaces, and possesses incredible technical ability. Christos has produced outstanding numbers in terms of goals and assists over the last three seasons, and he’s a player who will raise the technical level of our squad, while bringing positive energy, enthusiasm, and a strong mentality to our team."
Those were the words of Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta after the Gunners completed the £34m signing of 24-year-old forward Christos Tzolis. The Italian transfer chief had worked diligently to get a deal done for the Club Brugge forward, who had scored an impressive 43 goals for the Belgian Pro League side in just two seasons.
An impressive return in front of goal, but the top tier in Belgium is a far cry from the Premier League, as Tzolis knows all too well. The Greek international spent two years playing for Norwich City in England's top division, before a stint in the Championship.
He scored just three goals in 30 appearances for the Canaries before loan spells with FC Twente and Fortuna Dusselforf. He enjoyed a much more fruitful spell in Bundesliga 2 with 24 goals in 35 appearances, earning a move to Club Brugge.
He became a leader during his time in Belgium and a creative spark for a side that would win their 20th league title. Amid all the transfer talk linking Arsenal with Vinicius Junior, Tzolis' arrival is going somewhat under the radar. But it shouldn't.
Football.londonspoke exclusively with Carlos Martinho - former assistant coach at PAOK, the club that gave the Greek his first taste of senior football - for an insight into his early years.
Martinho, along with head coach Abel Ferreira, handed Tzolis his first-team debut after an incredible few years with the club's academy. The young forward, who came through PAOK's youth ranks, scored a remarkable 19 goals and eight assists in 26 appearances during the 2019-20 campaign for PAOK's youth side.
Tzolis became too hard to ignore during the Covid-19 pandemic. After impressing Ferreira, the Portuguese head coach handed him his full debut against Olympiacos, going on to claim several Greek records, including the youngest scorer in the 2019-20 Greek championship after scoring a goal at the age of 18, four months and 21 days.
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"Part of the way for us to work in the club is to always look and to be connected with the youth academy. To identify the players that could have a potential to play in our first team," Martinho toldfootball.london when asked about Tzolis' breakthrough season.
"From the moment Tzolis started to play in the Under-19, we identified him as a player that had a lot of potential. In that moment, he started training with us some days of the week, and it was clear that he had a big potential.
"Because of COVID, the championship stopped and we needed to do a pre-season. When we did that pre-season, we told him to start training with us every day. I believe this was important because he was a little bit shy in terms of his personality.
"From then, he understood that he was starting to be a member of the first team, he started to be more focused, more integrated with the team and the other players. This helped him to show even more quality in the training.
"We trained in this pre-season for about one month, one month and a half, it was clear that during these training sessions - he gave us signs that he was at the level of our players. We weren't afraid to put him in to play.
"After the championship started again, he was in the starting eleven in the first game. He was always an option, even when he was not in the starting eleven.
"He showed us that we were correct to give him this opportunity because he was very important in many special games. I would just refer to one: in the moment that we were playing the Champions League qualification.
"In the first game against Beşiktaş, we won 2-0 and Tzolis was the one that scored the two goals and gave us directly a possibility to enter in the Europa League.
"After that, we had more games to try to enter in the Champions League, but he was very, very important from the moment that he started to play with us."
It's clear that Tzolis had talent - hence his move to Norwich City for an undisclosed fee, signing a five-year deal - and he got off to the best start possible in England. At just 19-years-old, he scored a brace and notched two assists in a 6-0 win over Bournemouth in the League Cup, with Daniel Farke praising him as one of Europe's brightest prospects.
However, Tzolis struggled to recreate that form and was unable to help keep Norwich in the Premier League - a big ask for such a young player. Since then, he's come on leaps and bounds.
"He's a complete player in all the senses," Martinho added. "He is very good in defending, he is always focused to try to help the team without the ball.
"Very strong in the transitions, and with the ball he is very objective. He scores goals with his right foot and his left foot. Always direct with his actions to the goal.
"It’s clear he's the type of player that Arsenal like. And for me, Arsenal with this philosophy that doesn't have any one big star, all the players are exceptional, but it's the team that is the main star.
"Tzolis has the same philosophy. He was well-picked because he has the same principles, the same character, and the way that he plays fits the way that Arsenal play.
"It will be an amazing challenge for him because he will now play in a team, that is in this moment, in the top three of the world. He is prepared, and he will be an important option for the coach to help the team to achieve its goals for this season."
That'll be music to Arsenal fans' ears following the departure of fan favourite Leandro Trossard to Besiktas. The Belgian was an influential figure during the Gunners' Premier League title win, and finding a suitable replacement should not be overlooked.
Martinho is a firm believer that Tzolis will fulfil his potential and be a key player for the Gunners. The Palmeiras assistant coach said: "I believe that not only Tzolis, but every player has his time to achieve his truly performance, his truly potential. I believe that this will be the moment that Tzolis will show what he is capable of really do.
"He was sold very young, and sometimes this is complicated because of his personality. He went to a different club, a club that doesn't have the same type of game that he was used to play, because in PAOK we were a team that fight for titles.
"Norwich, with all respect, was a team that his big goal was not to be relegated. So, it's a completely different game. After that, he went to Germany, he went to Belgium, and now he arrives again to England. For sure, all these different leagues, different context, he's developed and grown.
"I believe that now he will be in this top level, more mature as a man, as a person, more mature as a player. So he arrives with a very good age: young, but with a lot of experience already.
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"At 22, he already played Championship, Champions League, in different countries. So he has a lot of experience for his age, and this will help him for the second time in England, for him to show his truly quality."
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