Paul Merson has hailed Leandro Trossard as ‘special’ whilst suggesting that Gabriel Jesus should remain on the bench for Arsenal.
Merson has been speaking to Sky Sports after watching Arsenal beat Crystal Palace 4-1 on Sunday afternoon.
Trossard didn’t get on the scoresheet but he did chip in with a superb assist, picking out Granit Xhaka to make it 3-0.
The Belgian continues to shine in the Arsenal attack, playing as something of a false nine for Mikel Arteta.
Merson now believes the £28million deal Arsenal struck for Trossard in January is looking like an absolute bargain.
Merson even feels that Trossard could walk into the Manchester City team tomorrow if needed, branding him a ‘special player’.
The Arsenal legend added that Gabriel Jesus is an ‘unbelievable’ player but he deserves to be on the bench right now with Trossard playing so well.
“£28m for Leandro Trossard. Arsenal must have been thinking ‘is that all?’. It’s a cup of tea in football terms,” said Merson. “The lad could go and play for Man City tomorrow morning. There’s an art to playing for Man City, not every player could do it, but he could. He is two-footed, he’s a special player. You cannot knock Edu and Mikel Arteta for the way they have put this team together.”
“Gabriel Jesus doesn’t play at the moment, for me. He’s been out a long time. Trossard has come in and hit the ground running. Look at Arsenal’s last three league games – three goals, three goals, four goals. It’s not like they are short of goalscorers. Jesus is an unbelievable player to have on the bench, he’s got to be patient. It’s like having a transfer window now and Arsenal buying Jesus – it’s huge,” he added.
Leandro Trossard is making a huge impact for Arsenal
Arsenal’s top target for January was Shakhtar Donetsk winger Mykhailo Mudryk, only to see Chelsea beat them to his signature.
The Gunners had to pivot quickly and turned their attention towards Trossard instead, securing a fairly swift transfer.
Trossard is a proven Premier League player and came in for much cheaper than Mudryk.
Right now, Arsenal are loving how that situation played out.
After three assists in one half against Fulham, Trossard was it again by creating another goal against Palace.
The last few months have centred around the return of Jesus from injury.
Yet now Jesus is back, it’s almost hard to see how he can force his way back into the team ahead of Trossard.
That’s how good the Belgian has been and Merson is absolutely right to rave about his quality – even if it comes by saying to leave Jesus on the bench.
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