Rio Ferdinand has praised Arsenal’s summer transfer business and has explained why new winger Christos Tzolis could be the “bargain of the season”.
Arsenal had a mixed summer transfer window, but they did spend heavily to land Bruno Guimaraes, Ezri Konsa, Piero Hincapie and Tzolis.
These signings have improved Arsenal’s defence and midfield, but their attack has arguably been weakened in the summer.
This is because the Gunners sanctioned exits for Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Martinelli and Ethan Nwaneri, even though they failed to sign Morgan Rogers, Vinicius Junior and/or Bradley Barcola in the summer.
Arsenal were linked with a host of alternatives, but they ultimately opted to bide their time for the right signing after also being linked with Julian Alvarez and Kenan Yildiz.
However, Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has praised Arsenal, who “look stronger” after adding to their squad in the summer.
“I think they’ve strengthened. They look stronger,” he said on his Rio Presents YouTube channel.
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“You got Ezri Konsa, top player, top centre half, reliable, will play many games and will never let him down I don’t think.
“And Bruno Guimaraes is a fantastic midfielder who I think is a great signing for them in terms of the mix that they needed, the type of player they needed. I think Bruno is a perfect signing for them.”
“One of the bargains of the season…”
Ferdinand has also argued that new winger Tzolis could be the “bargain of the season” in the Premier League.
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He added: “They didn’t have to go crazy in terms of like loads and loads of players, but I think they’ve been really efficient in the way that they’ve gone and bought players this this in this window.
“Tzolis is going to be a winger I think we’re going to have to watch out for this year.
“I think he’s going to do some good stuff and I think he’s going to look like a snip and maybe could end up being one of the buys of the season. Definitely one of the bargains of the season.”
Tzolis impressed in his first couple of appearances for Arsenal before struggling in Monday’s 1-0 win against Aston Villa, and Gary Neville has called for him to be dropped for Sunday’s match against Chelsea.
Neville explained: “Look, it’s early for him. I didn’t get too carried away last week and said I wanted to see a bit more from him.
“The Community Shield was obviously promising and then the game against Coventry as well. But I did think he was doing one thing well, he seems to just cut in, and right-backs will start to understand that.
“Matty Cash just set about him during the Aston Villa game, he was really aggressive and it was a little bit of a mauling. That will be good for Tzolis, just making him aware of what this is going to be like.”
He added: “I thought [Eberechi Eze] did really well in the second half, I would be surprised if he doesn’t play next week against Chelsea.
“It’s a big game and Mikel Arteta might just have to tell Tzolis, “I’m not going to put you into this one but watch this match.” Eze has a bit more strength about him and certainly more experience in the Premier League.
“I would be stunned if Eze doesn’t play next week because he played really well in the second half at Aston Villa.”
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