Arsenal have completed the signing of winger Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge.
The Greece international has joined on a long-term deal, with Arsenal not specifying the exact length of his contract, after the Belgian club accepted an offer in the region of £34million for his services.
He becomes Arsenal’s third signing of the summer after Piero Hincapie’s move was made permanent and the Gunners signed backup goalkeeper Illan Meslier.
Tzolis, who has previously played in the Premier League with Norwich City and has had spells with hometown club PAOK, Twente and Fortuna Dusseldorf, enjoyed a stunning 2025-26 season with Brugge.
Indeed, Tzolis scored 17 goals and provided 23 assists and Brugge regained the Belgian Pro League title. He also scored twice and registered one assist in helping Brugge reach the playoff round of the Champions League, in which they lost to Atletico Madrid.
Tzolis will fill the void on the left wing following Leandro Trossard’s move to Besiktas, and is relishing the chance to play regularly at Emirates Stadium, having made his Premier League debut at Arsenal’s home.
“It’s absolutely amazing to sign for such a big club, the champions of England. I’m very proud to be part of this team for the next season,” Tzolis told Arsenal.com.
“When my agent was saying maybe it was a possibility, I was already excited. Afterwards it was getting more serious and now I’m here.
“I had a nice conversation [with manager Mikel Arteta]. It was around an hour. We talked about everything, about the club, about myself, about his plans, about me of course, about the team. It was only positive things.
“I’m a direct player, I go for goals or assists. That’s my point of view as an attacker, as a winger. I’m always hungry to score or to give the final pass to my teammates. And I can say I work hard for the team, also in the defensive part.”
“I can say more or less that I know the level of the Premier League. I know it’s the best league in the world. Of course it’s different if you play for Norwich or Arsenal, I think you have the ball more as a player of Arsenal. So we attack more the other teams.
“It’s very physical, the league and the quality is very high, so I’m prepared for that. Also in the Champions League it’s quite high, so I believe every game is like a Champions League game here in Premier League.”
Tzolis eager to open Arsenal account after Brugge frustration
Tzolis played against Arsenal in the Champions League last season, but was unable to find the net as Brugge were frustrated in a 3-0 defeat.
Now he is eager to open his account for the Gunners, who will face Manchester City in the Community Shield on August 16 before taking on newly promoted Coventry City in their Premier League opener five days later.
“I love to watch football, I know everything about the Premier League, I know everything about Arsenal,” Tzolis added. “I watched so many games this year and especially we played against each other. It was 0-3 in our stadium. I can say it was the most difficult team to attack against that I’ve played so far.
“We played against other big teams, but against Arsenal, we had the most difficulties to make clear chances. We had some chances, but not very clear. They were very efficient also and scored three amazing goals against us, it was a fair result in the end.
“It’s actually incredible that I made my Premier League debut at the Emirates. I was saying this the other day to my family, it was a great memory. I was in love with the stadium. I was always saying it was one of the best stadiums I’ve played in. In the end we lost 1-0, but I really liked my first game so I’ll always remember that I played here at Emirates. I’m looking forward to playing again more.
“My targets are to win titles, of course. I think for everybody the target is there, as many as possible. And to have as much as possible game time with the team, then the rest will come, I’m sure about that. So for me the most important is to settle well in the team, have a good feeling, play as much as possible and then we’ll be very good, I believe.
“I’m very proud to be part of this amazing team. I’m looking forward to meeting everybody on the pitch, at the stadium, and to score my first goal at the Emirates.”
