He’s like Trossard: Arsenal could sign bigger talent than Lookman in £100k-p/w "wizard"- opinion

to provide cover in a few different areas, but there was another player touted for a move to N5 before Lookman who would be an even better addition, and he's also been com

pared to Trossard: Eberechi Eze.

How Eze compares to Lookman and Trossard

So, before we look at how Eze stacks up against Lookman, let's examine this comparison to Trossard and where it comes from.

Crystal Palace midfielder Eberechi Eze. 

It stems from FBref, which compared players in similar positions in the Premier League last season, created a list of the ten most comparable players for each one and concluded that the Belgian was the number one most similar attacking midfielder or winger to the Englishman.

The best way to see how they came to this conclusion is to compare the pair's underlying numbers and examine the metrics in which they rank closely, such as non-penalty expected goals plus assists, actual goals plus assists, progressive passes, shots, attempted passes, tackles, goal-creating actions and even negative attributes like the number of times they are dispossessed, all per 90.

A pass is considered progressive if the distance between the starting point and the next touch is at least 10 meters closer to the opponent's goal or any completed pass into the penalty area.

Eze & Trossard

Stats per 90

Eze

Trossard

Non-Penalty Expected Goals + Assists

0.59

0.58

Goals and Assists

0.66

0.71

Progressive Passes

4.08

4.15

Shots

3.59

3.27

Attempted Passes

39.9

36.8

Goal-Creating Actions

0.48

0.33

Tackles

1.54

1.48

Dispossessed

2.11

2.13

All Stats via FBref for the 23/24 Premier League Season

There are also some other more surface-level similarities between the pair, like the fact that they can both play in multiple positions but tend to do their best work off the left and that they enjoyed stellar campaigns last season.

With that said, why would the Crystal Palace ace, who was touted for a move to Arsenal back in June, be a better signing than Lookman?

Eberechi Eze celebrates for Crystal Palace

Well, the primary reason is that the £100k-per-week "wizard", as Declan Rice dubbed him, is Premier League-proven, a fully-fledged England international, and already living in London, meaning that settling into life at the Emirates would likely be a breeze.

In contrast, the Wandsworth-born ace struggled to get up to speed when he was playing in England, as in his 96 Premier League appearances prior to his move abroad, he scored just 11 goals and provided six assists, equating to a goal involvement on average every 5.64 games.

Whereas in 113 top-flight appearances, the former Queens Park Rangers gem has scored 26 goals and provided 15 assists, meaning he has a far more impressive average of a goal involvement once every 2.75 games.

Lastly, with the Palace ace now firmly a part of the England setup, he already has preexisting relationships with some of the Gunners' most essential players, like Bukayo Saka and Rice, and small things like that can help new signings get up to speed even quicker.

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Ultimately, while Lookman would be a good signing for Arsenal, Eze would be even better, and while it looks like a move that won't happen this summer, it's one that would seriously improve Arteta's squad.