Arsenal must be signing 'special' winger to replace Leandro Trossard, says Martin Keown

Arsenal must have a ‘special’ talent in mind to replace Leandro Trossard, says Martin Keown (Picture: talkSPORT)

Martin Keown

says Arsenal are losing a ‘fantastic servant’ in

Leandro Trossard

and the club must have someone ‘very special’ in the pipeline to replace him on the left wing.

Arsenal confirmed today that they had reached an agreement with Besiktas over the permanent transfer of Trossard, 31, and the forward has been given permission to undergo a medical with the Turkish giants.

Trossard spent four years with the Gunners following a £21million move from

Brighton

back in 2023, going on to rack up 36 goals and 34 assists in 174 appearances under the tutelage

Mikel Arteta

.

Six of those goals came last season as

Arsenal got their hands on the Premier League trophy at long last

, which proved to be the Belgian’s one and only piece of silverware, barring the club’s Community Shield triumph three years earlier.

It’s understood Trossard will put pen to paper on a three-year contract at Besiktas, with the two teams settling on a £17m transfer fee for the attacker.

‘I’m not surprised. I think he’s been a fantastic servant for

Arsenal

, come in and done an amazing job,’ former Arsenal and

England

defender Keown said of Trossard’s departure on

talkSPORT

‘They don’t really get a lot of money, Arsenal, from players that they let go.

Trossard has agreed to a three-year deal with Besiktas (Picture: Getty)

The Belgian helped Arsenal end their wait for the Premier League title last term (Picture: Getty)

‘So I think they’re looking at this and thinking, “Okay, we’re going to bring in another winger in… which one of Trossard or [Gabriel] Martinelli should we let go?”, and Martinelli was coming into some really good form.

‘I think Martinelli did really for Brazil actually.’

According to Keown, Arsenal must have a ‘special’ talent in their sights if they are prepared to let a player of Trossard’s qualities leave this summer.

Paris Saint-Germain’s Bradley Barcola

and

Club Brugge’s Christos Tzolis

are among the names being linked with the Gunners.

Arsenal have their eye on Club Brugge’s Tzolis as a potential replacement for Trossard (Picture: Getty)

However, Aston Villa and England star Morgan Rogers, who is comfortable playing both on the wing and in midfield, is believed to be at the top of Arsenal’s wishlist in preparation for the new season.

‘Trossard goes with a heavy heart from the fans but I can understand the business they’re doing,’ Keown added.

‘They must have somebody very special lined up to come into this role on the left wing for Arsenal.’

Keown is not completely sold on Arsenal forking out huge sums for Rogers (Picture: Getty)

Villa have reportedly slapped an eye-watering £100m price tag on Rogers

this summer, with

the player himself said to be ‘keen’ on a proposed switch to the Emirates

Keown has his doubts, though, questioning whether a big-money bid for Rogers is the right ‘direction’ for his former team.

Reacting to Villa’s £100m asking price for Rogers, Keown replied: ‘Gosh! Well, he’s a player who was available to everybody when he was at

Manchester City

not so long ago.

Rogers’ arrival could ‘block’ Dowman’s path to first-team minutes, says Keown (Picture: Getty)

‘I’m not sure that’s the direction that Arsenal will go in, I can’t see that being the case. Let’s see.

‘You’ve got

Max Dowman

coming through who plays as a No.10 eventually and you don’t want to be blocking any pathways.

‘Maybe the money is going to be spent on another centre-forward, let’s see. It would be phenomenal if they could go for another centre-forward.’

Illan Meslier remains the only new face at Arsenal at this stage of the transfer window.

The 26-year-old goalkeeper allowed his contract to run down at Leeds United and joined the Gunners on a free transfer last week.

He will be expected to play second fiddle to undisputed number one David Raya, with

Kepa Arrizabalaga rumoured to be on his way out of north London

Arsenal also signed Piero Hincapie on a permanent basis last month

after activating a clause £35m clause in their deal with Bayer Leverkusen for the defender.

For more stories like this,

check our sport page

Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on

Facebook

,

Twitter

Instagram

Home

divider

Sport

Football

Related topics

Arsenal transfer news

Premier League

Transfer News and Rumours

Arsenal star told he has 'played himself out' of England's World Cup semi-final team

Channel: Football

15 hours ago

By

Louis Sealey

Xabi Alonso tells Chelsea to replace two players and sign £51m World Cup star

16 hours ago