Former Arsenal favourite Ian Wright believes that his old side hit the jackpot by signing Leandro Trossard in January in the wake of his fantastic performance against Fulham at the weekend.
The Gunners snapped up Trossard for an initial £21million after they decided against meeting the asking price for first-choice target Myhaylo Mudryk, who ended up joining Chelsea.
But while Mudryk has struggled to make an impression at Stamford Bridge, Trossard has made a significant impact for Mikel Arteta's side. The versatile Belgian forward has clocked up one goal and five assists since making the switch to the Emirates after bagging a hat-trick of assists in Sunday's emphatic 3-0 win over Fulham.
And although Wright initially admitted that he was “disappointed” to have missed out on a deal for Mudryk, the popular pundit is adamant that the Ukrainian winger would have struggled to hit the ground running like Trossard.
Speaking on the Wrighty's House podcast, he said: “I don’t care what anyone says, Mudryk, and we’ve seen up to this point, he wouldn’t have done what Trossard has done what Trossard has been doing up to this point.”
He then added: “Mudryk, for his own sake, I do feel sorry for him because I don’t know if there’s anyone in the history of football whose had to have a transfer of that amount of money with so much politicalness around him. It’s almost unfair.”
While Trossard has clocked up plenty of goal contributions since his big January switch, Mudryk has registered just one assist in seven games for Chelsea, who splashed out over £300m on new recruits in the January transfer window.
Join the debate! What have you made of Trossard's start to life at Arsenal? Let us know here.
Mudryk appeared to have his heart set on a move to Arsenal and had dropped numerous hints in the build-up to the winter window. However, the Blues swooped in to strike a blockbuster £87m deal for the sought-after 22-year-old.
And although Arsenal recovered by quickly wrapping up a bargain deal for Trossard, Wright couldn't hide his disappointment at missing out on Mudryk.
Speaking on the Arsecast back in January, he admitted: "With Mudryk I was very excited about that. With the money, it started to get into the realm where it could knock us off our axis in terms what we're trying to do. He looks like the kind of guy that would fit into our group.
"I was a bit disappointed but not disappointed that Arsenal went ‘that’s fine’. He’s gone there for money, I’m not going to blame him because he’s someone who has had a lot more going on around him personally and in his life. We cannot talk about how much money he wants to take for whatever reason. I’m not even going there if I’m being totally honest. I was just disappointed we weren’t able to get him because of how good he is."
