Christos Tzolis has only been an Arsenal player for three months, but he says it feels much longer, and his first conversation with Mikel Arteta tells you why he settled so quickly.
The winger, who is back fit after a hamstring problem, spoke at length to the Greek broadcaster Novasports in an interview published on Tuesday. He spoke about the six games he missed, swapping shirts with Kostas Tsimikas at Anfield, what makes Arteta different from every coach he has worked with, and the ambition to win the Premier League in his first season.
He also admitted that he has no idea about golf, which in an English dressing room is almost a confession.
What did Arteta ask Tzolis in their first meeting?
Atletico Madrid, Roma and Borussia Dortmund were all interested in the summer, but Arsenal paid Club Brugge £34m. That made Christos Tzolis the most expensive Greek player ever, ahead of Kostas Manolas, at around €40m.
The conversation that sealed it was not really about football. “In the first talk we had in the summer, he asked me about my life, about my life outside the game as well, and about football of course,” Tzolis said. “I spoke for 45 minutes, for sure, and the coach for 10 or 15 minutes, so he was very open to hearing what I had to say.”
The habits before matches have struck him as well. “He does a lot of things before games, some alertness games in the dressing room to see how ready the players are. He always has different ideas before each match and approaches it differently. I hadn’t seen that with any other coach.”
How did he cope with the injury?
Tzolis had started the season well, with four assists so far, but the hamstring injury cost him six games in all competitions. He said he tried to use the time so he would be sharp the moment he came back.
“It’s definitely not the best thing to have an injury and miss a lot of games with the team. I missed six games in all competitions here, so it’s a bit difficult to deal with, but I always looked for something positive, so that I would be more ready when I came back and perform straight away,” he said. “That was my goal.”
His return came in the 1-0 win at Liverpool, which he called a “very physical” game with a lot of running. He did not see much of his Greece teammate Tsimikas on the pitch, but the two talked in the dressing room afterwards and swapped shirts. They meet again in the Greece camp this week, with games against the Netherlands on 13 November and Serbia on 16 November.
“I feel like I’ve been here for a long time”
The adjustment from Bruges to London has been quick. “I feel like I’ve adapted pretty well both on and off the pitch and to the team. To tell you the truth, I feel like I’ve been here for a long time, much longer than three months,” he said. “We have games all the time, so time flies here.”
Off the pitch, he has no real hobby yet because there is no time. He likes padel but cannot play it, and golf, the favourite pastime of plenty of Premier League squads, has not tempted him. He has not even tried it and thinks it looks like a very boring sport. His teammates, he said, have helped him settle in a lot.
London itself took some getting used to. Supporters spot him everywhere, and he told the story of walking near his home when a car stopped in the middle of the road. The driver, an Arsenal fan, got out for a photo because he could not believe who was walking past.
Can Tzolis win the Premier League in his first season?
That is the plan. “That’s everyone’s goal, not just my dream. I think it’s a dream for every footballer to win the Premier League, the best league in the world,” he said. “I hope it happens in my very first year at Arsenal, which would be the second in a row for the club, and I believe we can do it if we’re consistent and all have the same focus and the same goal.”
Our view: Arsenal need him to be more than a squad player. The summer left the left flank short, and as we argued when weighing up whether Arsenal should buy a striker or a left winger in January, Tzolis was the only attacker who came in. Four assists and no goals yet is a decent start, but the first goal will matter.
The timing works for him. He finishes with Greece on 16 November, five days before the trip to Newcastle, and with the rest of the squad scattered around the world, as our guide to where Arsenal’s internationals are playing this month shows, a fresh and fit Tzolis could be one of Arteta’s better options at St James’ Park.
