Christos Tzolis became the most expensive transfer in Greek football history, when he signed for Arsenal this week.
To welcome the 24-year-old to the Premier League champions, let’s take a look at the other Greek Gunners…
Greek stars to wear the Arsenal shirt
Giannis Tavlaridis (2001-2003)
It’s fair to say Giannis Tavlaridis doesn’t have the legacy in England that he does in France.
Lille supporters affectionately nicknamed the defender ‘Taureau’ (‘The Bull’), but Arsenal fans only caught brief glimpses of him, mostly in the League Cup.
Arsene Wenger became more willing to hand opportunities to young players after the move to the Emirates, so perhaps Tavlaridis was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Konstantinos Mavropanos (2018-2022)
Ironically, the 28-year-old has recently been linked with a return to the Emirates following West Ham’s relegation to the Championship.
It was often suggested that Arsene Wenger believed the defender had a bright future, handing him opportunities during his final weeks in charge.
However, persistent groin injuries meant Mavropanos never truly established himself under either Unai Emery or Mikel Arteta.
This was also a period when Arsenal’s priority often appeared to be reducing the wage bill. Whereas previous generations may have benefited from developmental loan spells before returning stronger, Mavropanos spent two seasons in Germany while another club covered his wages.
His impressive Bundesliga form did little to change Arsenal’s thinking, with Stuttgart eventually signing him permanently for around £7 million.
Sokratis deserved more
Sokratis Papastathopoulos (2018-2021)
One of Unai Emery’s first signings, Sokratis brought qualities Arsenal’s defence had often lacked: leadership, aggression and a genuine desire to defend.
Unfortunately, both on and off the pitch, this proved to be one of the most turbulent periods in the club’s recent history, meaning we rarely saw the consistent performer who had impressed so much in Germany.
It became clear early on that Mikel Arteta felt Sokratis wasn’t suited to the style of football he wanted to implement. As we would soon discover, our manager has never been afraid to move on from players once he loses faith in them.
Apart from occasionally filling in at right-back after football resumed following the COVID-19 shutdown, the Greek international unknowingly made what would prove to be his final Arsenal start.
Incredibly, after the restart he played just one more minute of Premier League football before eventually leaving the club.
The biggest compliment I can pay Sokratis is his professionalism. Despite being frozen out, he remained committed enough that Arteta rewarded him with a late appearance in the 2020 FA Cup Final. Other players in similar situations did not receive that same gesture.
He would never play for Arsenal again because, rather astonishingly, he wasn’t registered for either the Premier League or Europa League squads the following season.
That meant Arsenal were paying a player close to £100,000 per week who was unable to feature for almost six months.
It was an era when the club developed the unfortunate habit of terminating contracts simply to reduce the wage bill.
Even after leaving North London, Sokratis has always spoken warmly about his time at Arsenal.
That says everything about the man.
Welcome to Arsenal, Christos Tzolis.
Which Greek player do you remember most fondly, Gooners? And do you agree that Sokratis deserved better during his final months at Arsenal? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Dan Smith
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Don’t know what we are getting here. Can only hope that the brain’s trust have got it right, this time.
Sometimes the player(s) that seem least convincing are the ones that make the difference, Leo Trossard came and performed admirably on the back of the Mudryick saga, we all thought that we were downgrading but the opposite happened.As a former chairman Dein stated the only thing guaranteed in a big money transfer is the wages of the player.
Do you mean “Stathis” Tavlaridis?
He was also on our books from 2001 until 2004
I hope this guy will surprise us, like most of our recent signings, PH Ch. Mos .. a productive conection with Viktor
is preferable.
Nooh! Not that name again. The horror.
Why are Arsenal not looking at Jaka Bijol a defender at Leeds United ranked the 4th best defender in EPL last season, even ahead of Saliba. He is 27years. At his prime and won’t cost us more than 30 million pounds.
Tzolis with an assist in a 3-0 win v MK dons
He’d likely struggle to get playing minutes on the left wing if Arsenal manage to sign Vinicius Jr after David Ornstein’s report
The clever Real Madrid will get a 19-year-old winger who was one of the best inverted LWs in World Cup, whereas Arsenal could sign a 26-year-old world class LW that comes with a long injury history
oh he take us to another level
better then what we have
Vinicius Jr would be a huge left wing upgrade for us, but he’ll demand an exorbitant salary and force Arsenal to sell Martinelli
Dan are you still doing the FPL?
@Gai, Arsenal already signed one of the best inverted left winger and two footed-Tzolis. He just created two chances and an assist at behind the door friendly against MKDons.
IMO, It’s no brainer if Arsenal can sign ViniciusJr 26yr is ok for a winger. 19yrs is unproven winger for RealMadrid.
But then what happens to Matinelli?
BBC reports Arsenal still interested in Diomande with PSG unable to match LipS asking price.
Based on Tzolis’ highlights, he isn’t good in 1-vs-1 situations and prefers to play one-two with his teammates to get past the opposing right back
I hope our coaches can improve his dribbling skills and confidence
@Gai you are spot on👌his talent is huge let’s hope he can be developed like Wenger did to Thierry who look raw in his first season.
As for Matinelli he seem to have lost his 1 vs 1 dribbling but will rather take ball to biline or pass it. But then he is one of the best defensive wingers in EPL.
But we sincerely need an upgrade in vinicius jr.
I personally wouldn’t like to see Junior at Arsenal. He has a serious victim complex, and half the time he causes the problem.
20 goals or more in his last 5 seasons
heard this about Mbappe
most important thing is he’s very good at football, better then what we have
We’ll have to agree to disagree on this one Dan.
what that he’s good at football lol
medals don’t lie mate
but of course your entitled to your opinion
I promise you though would be a game changer
he’s a different level to what we have
I don’t think it will happen though btw
He’s asking Madrid for half a million euros a week in wages .
They’ve offered him 300 thousand
No way we pay that kind of money .
Dan,
I don’t doubt he’s a good footballer, I just don’t like the baggage that would come with him.
Just how long would it be for him to start playing the victim. Something he’s also very good at.
Not for me I’m afraid.
if we signed him we walk the title race
how anyone would prefer Martinelli to him astounds me
it’s like when fans on here said they prefer Eddie Nketiah to Mbappe because ….he was a nicer person lol
but do not worry …..numbers are crazy
It would be a very unlike Arsenal move
it would be a game changer though
Wants half a million euros a week ,Madrid have offered him 300k
No way we pay him that kind of money .
Read on sky that’s NET earnings aswell so that would be a about 875k a week lol
No doubt you can name those who’ve said that. It’s more than an individual
Or Odegaard was on the same lvl as KDB and was worth 200 million
Or Arteta was a better tactician than Wenger and had surpassed pep .
don’t forget Mbappe wouldn’t suit us , Havertz will outscore Halland but my
fave though will always be ……..
Maitland Niles has now surpassed Kante lol
Great that you can mention those points made by how many deluded individuals?
Please elaborate on the not unreasonable concerns that VJ might turn out to be a less than favourable signing. Believe me, I have faith in his talent, but what I don’t have is absolute certainty that a big signing (and Derek is right imo) will not upset the status quo
Some of the greatest players have the right attitude and everything else that goes with it. Others don’t
well I don’t know but neither do you lol
and we can say that about anyone
what we do know in the history of football is that the better players you have the more chance you have to win ?
as I said we don’t know so we can only go off history right
his stats show that his personality has not prevented him or his club from winning trophies
hes won 14 trophies in his club. career including 2 Champions League, both of which he’s scored in
Martinelli who I like is a year younger and won ……..2
Dan,
At the end of the day it comes down to winning at all costs. If you’re happy to go along with the baggage that he brings, then fair enough.
I don’t see it that way. But it’s all about opinions, we obviously differ on this subject. 👍
With Vini in our team, most of the games we ‘ll be 1 nil up already this is a player that can cause havoc on other teams, his a serial winner and a player who don’t like losing games.
Wether his signing is going to cause issues with our wage structure no problem if you want to earn like him in the room or the present squad then every player have to prove there worth.
For those who don’t want him let me remind you, there’s no single player on our team Arsenal that comes closes to him.
Anyone here in the comment section has anyone in mind should name them….
O. T
The signing of
1 Bruno G.
2 J. Alvarez
3 konsa for (Saliba)
Will definitely guaranty us success in Years to come.
God bless Arsenal