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Arsenal have agreed a deal with Club Brugge for winger Christos Jolis, Sky Sports News understands.
The fee is understood to be £34m, a record for the Belgian pro league.
Once Jolis heard that the Premier League champions were interested, he only wanted Arsenal.
Sky Sports News Arsenal’s move for Bohe Tjolis is independent of their pursuit Morgan Rogers.
Arsenal are one down in the forward line after the sale Leandro Trossard in a £17m deal to Besiktas.
The 24-year-old, formerly of Norwich City, scored 17 goals and added 23 assists in 36 league appearances last season.
Jolis played against Arsenal in the Champions League last season
Analysis: Why Tzolis is the perfect replacement for Trossard
Sky Sports’ Sam Blitz:
Tzolis comes as a direct replacement for Trossard. And a closer look at Tzolis’ profile shows a lot of similarities between the two players.
The first is the profile. To those who know him, the Greek forward is a winger but like Trossard, he is also a number 10. Last summer, Crystal Palace strongly considered Jolis as a replacement for now-Arsenal star Iberechi Eze.
Tzolis is primarily a left winger but can also play as a number 10
“He’s capable of playing different roles,” Hayek Milkon said Sky SportsWho until February this year was the assistant manager of Club Brugge in Belgium for Tjolis full-time.
“Coming in from the left – giving him this space to start wide and then finding moments to go further inside – that’s where he’s at his strongest.
“If he’s assigned to play really wide to get those one-on-ones, he’s capable of doing that. But he’s always strongest the closer he is to the goal. Whenever he’s more focused, you can expect him to attack in space at any moment.”
Another similarity between Tzolis and Trossard is their availability. Trossard had an exemplary injury record at Arsenal and was injured in just four games in three-and-a-half years. All four of those games came in his final season in north London.
Meanwhile, Tzolis had the same record at Club Brugge. The most time he spent at the Belgian club was two matches – although he was one of the team’s most energetic and intense players.
“He’s a guy who does a lot of work,” Milkon added. “He runs a lot of kilometers in the game, but also at a high speed and in his sprint distance.
“Anyone can do it once a week. With the Champions League he did it every three or four days. And his performance was stable.”
A final comparison between Trossard and Tzolis is a slight temper – born from the desire to win. Arteta once affectionately called Troussard “a bit of a whiner” at Arsenal by constantly complaining in training and to referees.
And one big area of improvement for Tjolis according to his former coach? “Emotional stability,” says Milkon.
Read Sky Sports’ Sam Blitz’s full feature on Christos Tzoulis here…
Arsenal’s first five matches of the Premier League season
August 21: Coventry (H), live on Sky Sports, kick-off 8pm
August 31: Aston Villa (A), live on Sky Sports, kick-off at 8pm
September 6: Chelsea (H), live on Sky Sports, kick-off at 4.30pm
September 12: Sunderland (a), kick-off at 8 p.m
September 19: Brighton (a), kick-off at 3 p.m
