Leandro Trossard commenced his football career in Genk winning the Belgian Cup once in 2013, as well as clinching the Belgian First Division from the likes of Anderlecht and Club Brugge in the 2018/19 season.

That turned out to be a monumental and breakthrough campaign for Trossard, as he scored 22 goals in 47 appearances, which brought him to the radar of those elite scouts of Brighton and Hove Albion, who wasted no time in signing him for an undisclosed fee. Trossard primarily manned the left wing for Brighton and was an ever-present for the Seagulls, playing 31 of the 38 games of the 2019/20 season. The Belgian was part of the Brighton side that struggled in 15th place under Graham Potter, and the struggles continued into his second season with the club, as he missed only three Premier League games of their shambolic 2020/21 campaign that saw them finish in 16th place. 

The 2021/22 season marked some massive improvement in Brighton, as Trossard scored eight goals in 34 Premier League games, which saw Brighton finish in ninth place, and brought Potter to the spotlight, before he made the eventual switch to Chelsea last season. Despite scoring seven goals and featuring in every game for Brighton of the 2022/23 season before the FIFA World Cup, Trossard made the switch to Arsenal in the winter transfer window to add some much needed depth to the Gunners’ attack. 

There was a nice touch from his former club, Brighton, thanking him for the memories, and that was quite a highlight reel. There was a bit of sour grapes from his former boss, Roberto de Zerbi, but frankly, Arsenal fans didn’t care. 

Arsenal had gotten themselves a vastly experienced player in the peak of his powers, and who was going to test himself amongst the elites, as the club aimed to finish at pole position in the Premier League, before falling short season. The project at Arsenal is very enticing and the higher ups would have weighed the situation and determined that Trossard was good enough to play a part and contribute this season.

The player himself has stated that he wanted us help the club achieve its dreams. Which was a damn good way to start.

Trossard made his debut in that pulsating 3-2 win over Manchester United in January, before making his first start in the FA Cup defeat to Manchester City. Over the next three Premier League games against Everton, Brentford and Manchester City, Trossard made substitute appearances, scoring his only Arsenal goal so far in the 1-1 draw with the Bees. Eddie Nketiah’s unfortunate knee injury paved the way for two starts against Leicester and Everton, which he registered an assist each in both games, then he started against Bournemouth and had to be substituted after 22 minutes due to injury.

Trossard returned to the starting lineup against Fulham and stole the show with a hat-trick of assists in the game, before joining the team to suffer some heartbreak when they lost on penalties to Sporting CP in the Europa League Round of 16. In that game, Trossard had an opportunity to be the match winner but his shot went past Antonio Adan and clipped the post. Truly heart-wrenching stuff. 

He provided another assist in the 4-1 whopping of Crystal Palace, was selected by Belgium in the international break and provided an assist for Kevin de Bruyne in the 3-2 win over Germany. His fine form continued when he provided another assist in the 4-1 win over Leeds, then he was relegated to consistent substitute appearances, as Arsenal’s title challenge dwindled following three consecutive draws to Liverpool, West Ham and Southampton, before Manchester City decimated the Gunners which effectively ended their title challenge. 

Trossard returned to the starting lineup against his former club, Brighton, won ran out as 3-0 winners, and Martinelli’s injury from a nasty Moises Caicedo challenge ensued that Trossard finished the campaign with starts against Nottingham Forest and Wolves, where he had two assists.

Going into the new campaign, Trossard was in good goalscoring form, but has been relegated to the bench in Arsenal’s fixtures this season. In the Community Shield, he came on as a sub, and scored the late late goal that took the game to penalties, which Arsenal won, and he managed to play 17 minutes in the narrow win over Nottingham Forest. Takehiro Tomiyasu’s red card in the slender win over Crystal Palace had to make Mikel Arteta resort to Satanball, and Trossard couldn’t get onto the pitch. 

Arsenal has signed some important players this summer, and the manager has done his bit to integrate them to the squad, which has coincided with a formation change, but Trossard hasn’t still been favored as a first-teamer, despite possessing the traits and abilities to feature in several positions in the attacking third. 

Gabriel Martinelli remains the first choice left winger, and Kai Havertz seems to be the favored asset for the left 8 role Granit Xhaka departed, and even when Arsenal was without its alpha dog in attack at the start of the season, Eddie Nketiah was selected in the center forward position ahead of Trossard.

There is a lot of football to be played as Arsenal is currently competing on four fronts, but it’s evident that Trossard will never be a ‘first-teamer’ in the Arsenal squad. 

I’m still very happy that he’s ours though, especially when I think of the fact that we opted for Mykhailo Mudryk ahead of him.

Sayonara.

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