Reports: Arsenal set to hand Trossard an extension
Good idea, or no?
Reports broke early Thursday that Arsenal are considering handing attacking utility man Leandro Trossard a new contract that would reward him handsomely for his contributions while also keeping him at the club beyond his current deal’s end, set for June 2026.
Reactions to the news have been understandably pretty mixed, as Trossard is a couple of weeks shy of 30 years old and is in likely the worst form we’ve seen of him since he joined Arsenal. What’s more, he’s not a perfect fit for Mikel Arteta’s winger position, as he’s not your typical wide man so much as he’s an inside forward/shadow striker mishmash.
So, would it be a good idea for Arsenal to hitch its wagon to the Belgian beyond next summer? Things to consider:
Retention vs Replacement
With a player as key as Trossard is right now (10th in minutes in all competitions), there is little doubt that him leaving would require a replacement. Of course, some may consider that to be no big deal due to his form or not liking his profile.
Regardless of your feelings on Trossard, replacing a third- or fourth-choice attacker is something that comes at a significant cost. Nico Williams, Arsenal’s primary non-9 attacking target this past summer, would have come over for something like £52m plus a contract likely pushing over £200,000 per week, making a five-year deal an investment more in the range of £104 million (not including bonuses, agent fees, etc.)
Other top-tier players who moved this summer included equally expensive names like Michael Olise (£110m) or Pedro Neto (£90m). Someone more in Emile Smith Rowe’s bracket, for reference, would be about £45m in wages and transfer fees.
Trossard, on the other hand, is currently on £90,000 per week, or about £4.7m per year. His transfer fee has already been committed, and his current wages through next June are worth about £7m. By extending the attacker and giving him a raise to, let’s say, £125,000 per week, Arsenal are committing about £6.5m per season in total, plus whatever bonus they may throw in.
Some of that change in cost could be covered by a transfer fee, but I’d personally put Trossard’s value relatively optimistically around £25 million, which is not quite going to bridge the gap, while also removing a significant contributor. That’s a better move to make after you’ve got a replacement.
Given his age, it feels unlikely that Arsenal are talking about Trossard staying beyond 2027, when he will be 32. It’s possible that they’re even adding a single year to his contract, with the wage rise the bigger part of this puzzle.
And while £125,000 can certainly feel like a big number, the evolving football marketplace may beg to differ. Liverpool, for instance, pay Cody Gakpo £120,000 per week, making him their fifth-highest-paid attacker (Luis Diaz reportedly makes a fraction of that, but that changes soon via either an extension or a transfer out). Manchester United pays their fifth-highest-paid attacker, Højlund, about £85k per week. The lines between attack and midfield blur at City, but their fifth and sixth attackers do make considerably less, something more like £50,000pw. But that’s after multiple guys ahead of them making more than Arsenal’s top earner does.
No more attacking transfers?
One of the bigger concerns is whether a move to extend Trossard would be a sign that a new attacker isn’t coming. I personally would not expect that.
Arsenal tried to sign a new attacker (Williams, as mentioned above) with Trossard already in the fold for this season. They ended up signing Raheem Sterling, who seems awfully unlikely to be back next season. That seems a tacit acknowledgement that improvement is possible in the eyes of management, and something worth pursuing. Extending Trossard instead of eyeing an improvement isn’t quite in keeping with the direction of the club.
Extending Trossard while eyeing an improvement, however, would be. Arsenal have done similar in midfield, where they signed Jorginho and then Declan Rice, and have also done so at fullback, where they haven’t been shy about stacking up names in the pursuit of improvement.
With a front three of Martinelli-Havertz-Saka relatively likely to start next season as three of the top four attacking options, Arsenal could slide two new signings in along with Trossard to create an awfully deep first six in attack. Trossard could also pop into midfield on occasion, as could Havertz. As long as the Trossard is aware of and on board with such a design, there shouldn’t be a morale problem, either.
That does raise the question of Gabriel Jesus, however. His status for next season feels cloudy at best. His contract is up in 2027, so this coming summer is the vaunted “sell or extend” window. There are no rumors of an extension, nor should there be due to his wages. It feels likely that Arsenal would struggle to find a taker for his contract and injury history, making a contract termination or sale with a big wage contribution the two most likely avenues out of the club. In that sense, you could argue that keeping Trossard puts more pressure on the club to offload Jesus, or if that effort fails, it reduces the number of attackers they could buy this summer. That is potentially an area of concern if you’re looking for numbers, but I’m among those Arsenal fans who would rather see quality enter the picture.
The worst-case scenario on this Trossard extension is probably the club pulling a bit of a Tierney and ending up with someone who doesn’t really contribute to the club, but is otherwise immovable, and on about $125,000 per week. I wouldn’t find that ideal, but the Tierney saga has shown that it also is something the club is able to manage, if it happens. Trossard is probably someone you’d consider a little safer bit as well, as he’s positionally versatile and doesn’t have a checkered injury history like KT.
If all goes well with this extension, you end up with more of a Jorginho: Someone on that low-six-figure wage who provides a veteran presence, and as he gets closer to retirement, a decent injury fall-back or fill-in starter for certain games. Unless, of course, Arsenal are offering a bunch more years to the guy, then I take the whole thing back.