Christos Tzolis has made an impressive start to his Arsenal career and he is clearly still a big fan favourite with his former side Club Brugge.
The 24-year-old arrived at Arsenal from the Belgian side this summer in a £34 million move and is already showing impressive signs.
The Greece international provided two assists in the 3-0 Community Shield win over Manchester City and another on his Premier League debut as Arsenal beat Coventry 3-0 on Friday.
The former Norwich City player looks like he has a good chance of making the left wing spot his own at the Emirates, but he was already back at one of his old clubs on Sunday.
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Tzolis returned to Club Brugge on Sunday as a guest for their derby clash with Cercle Brugge, which they won 1-0.
The Greek was paraded on the pitch and given a great reception from the home fans, despite leaving the club just last month, even taking a fake kick-off before the game.
Clearly they were not holding his move to the Premier League champions against him after two successful seasons in Belgium, which saw him score 43 goals in 108 appearances across all competitions.
Tzolis has already earned great praise from his new manager, with Mikel Arteta saying: ‘I love that a player that has been with us just for a few weeks gets this kind of energy every time he’s on the ball. I think he’s earned it.
‘The way he has performed in the last few games has been phenomenal. What he transmits as a player is so direct, so incisive, constantly.
‘He wants to make things happen and he has an incredible variety of actions in the last 30 metres.
‘It’s up to him to make the right decisions. Even the spaces are sometimes really, really small. I’m very happy with him.’
After impressing against Coventry, Gunners captain Martin Odegaard told the BBC of the Greek star: ‘Amazing – he played a brilliant game.
‘He has been brilliant all pre-season. He’s so lively. It’s hard to defend [against] him. He’s a really intelligent player. He always looks up and finds the right pass.’
Tzolis has taken a unique path to Arsenal, which started at PAOK in his home country before a forgettable spell with Norwich.
He played 30 times for the Canaries after signing for them in August 2021 when they were in the Premier League, but made little impact.
After an impressive loan spell at Fortuna Dusseldorf the German side exercised an option to sign him permanently, but then quickly sold him to Club Brugge for €6m (£5.14m).
