Arsenal must rue selling £35m ace who’s outperforming Trossard & Martinelli

It’s been a tough week in what has proven to be a tough campaign for Arsenal.

Mikel Arteta’s side came into the week on cloud nine following their comprehensive win against Manchester City, but since then, the club failed to sign anyone on deadline day, and then the team collapsed away to Newcastle United in the League Cup.

What’s worse is that Gabriel Martinelli picked up a muscle injury in the first half and could be out for some time now, and while he hasn’t been particularly effective this year, the team do not have the numbers to lose another attacker.

In his absence, Leandro Trossard will have to play even more football, and like the Brazilian, he’s been out of form all season.

The situation the Gunners find themselves in is far from ideal and would be easier to navigate if they still had a Premier League ace sold by Unai Emery, who’s been outperforming both Trossard and Martinelli.

Martinelli & Trossard’s form this season

It’s been more of the same from last season for Martinelli, as while he’s certainly looked a little more lively, he’s still been frustratingly ineffective in front of goal.

For example, in 35 appearances, the former Ituano gem has scored seven goals and provided four assists, which comes to a not-terrible but somewhat underwhelming average of a goal involvement every 3.18 games.

For his part, Trossard has found the back of the net on five occasions in 36 appearances and provided six assists for good measure, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 3.72 games.

Now, it should be said that the team have looked less threatening as a whole since the talismanic Bukayo Saka went down with a hamstring injury in December, but if the North Londoners are going to genuinely push Liverpool all the way this year, they cannot be relying on the 23-year-old to carry the burden of creating and scoring goals.

In short, Martinelli and Trossard have been underwhelming this season, and to make matters worse, one of the club’s former academy gems, sold years ago, is outperforming both.

The Arsenal star outperforming Trossard and Martinelli

Several ex-Arsenal players are enjoying stellar campaigns this season, from the young Mika Biereth at AS Monaco to Donyell Malen, who just joined Aston Villa.

However, in this instance, the former Hale Ender, who has been tearing things up in the Premier League, has been doing so across the capital, in West London, for Fulham.

The player in question is, of course, Alex Iwobi, who came up through the North Londoners’ academy and went on to make 149 appearances for the first team before being sold to Everton for £35m in August 2019.

Four years and 140 appearances later, the Nigerian international made his way to Craven Cottage, where he has since become a key player for Marco Silva.

So far this season, the “terrific” winger, as dubbed by former professional turned pundit Gary Lineker, has scored seven goals and provided three assists for the West Londoners, and while that is one less goal involvement than Marteinlli and Trossard have produced, he’s racked up his tally in just 27 appearances.

That means the 28-year-old dynamo has maintained a brilliant average of a goal involvement every 2.7 games, which is made all the more impressive by the fact that Fulham are a solidly mid-table side.

Ultimately, we aren’t saying Iwobi would start every game over Arsenal’s current left-wing options, but given how well he has fared in a weaker team this year, we bet Arteta would love to have him in his squad.