Mikel Arteta's side won just one of their previous five games, which was against Championship side Preston North End, and while Martin Odegaard's return is a welcome one, the North Londoners still look blunt in attack.
There have been a number of underwhelming performers so far, but perhaps one of the worst has been Leandro Trossard.
Trossard-Arsenal-Newcastle
The Belgian looks a million miles from his best, and what makes it worse is that a former Arsenal youngster sold for a pittance is now outperforming him and worth millions more to boot.
Trossard's lacklustre season
So, the first thing to say is that Trossard is an undeniably talented footballer, and one that has been incredible in Arsenal colours, but therein lies the problem: we know how good he can be, and he's been nowhere near that level this year.
For example, the former Brighton & Hove Albion star racked up a seriously impressive haul of 17 goals and two assists in just 46 appearances last season, equating to an average goal involvement every 2.42 games across an entire campaign.
However, so far this year, the 29-year-old has only been able to score two goals and provide one assist in 15 appearances, which translates to a quite poor average of a goal involvement every five games.
Moreover, in his first season and a half with the club, the 39-capped international was a consistent expected goals overperformer, but this season, he has started to underperformed in that metric, which is clear to see from watching him in goalscoring opportunities.
Expected Goals (xG) is a metric designed to measure the probability of a shot resulting in a goal.
Overall, while there have been downturns in form pretty much across the board for Arsenal this season, Trossard's fall from crucial goalscorer to anonymous passenger has been dramatic.
leandro-trossard
Worse yet, he's been completely outperformed by a former Gunners' prospect who is now worth a hefty chunk of change.
The Ex-Arsenal youngster outperforming Trossard
Let's get straight to the point: the former Arsenal youngster in question is Borussia Dortmund star Donyell Malen.
According to those close to the deal via The Athletic, he was sold to PSV Eindhoven in 2017 for a fee close to £200k and not the £750k that has been reported elsewhere.
Donyell Malen for Borussia Dortmund.
During his three years with the Dutch giants, the dynamic attacker scored 55 goals and provided 24 assists in 116 appearances, equating to an average of a goal involvement every 1.46 games and was seemingly enough to convince Dortmund to spend £27m on him in July 2021.
The "sizzling" star, as dubbed by U23 scout Antonio Mango, didn't necessarily blow anyone away in his debut campaign with the German giants, but a healthy return of nine goals and six assists in 38 appearances - 27 of which were starts - was a sign that he could make it at the top level.
The following two seasons saw him make steady progress at the Signal Iduna Park, as he produced a tally of ten goals and eight assists in 35 appearances across the 22/23 campaign, then a seriously impressive 15 goals and five assists in 38 games last year.
This season has seen him start seven games and make seven appearances off the bench, so his current haul of four goals and one assist is really quite good going, which means he's averaging a goal involvement once every 2.8 games for Die Schwarzgelben.
Unsurprisingly, such a prolonged improvement in attacking output has seen the Dutchman's valuation soar as well, with Transfermarkt now valuing him at €40m, which is about £33m, or a whopping 16400% increase on the fee Arsenal sold him for in 2017.
In comparison, Transfermarkt now values Trossard at €35m, which is about £29m, or £4m less than the Dortmund star.
England-Trippier-Malen-Euro-2024
Ultimately, Arsenal's Belgian maestro may well come good again before the end of the season, but given how much Malen is now worth and the performances he has been consistently putting in for Dortmund over the last four years, we are sure the club regret selling him when they did and for as much as they did.
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