Outscoring Trossard & Martinelli: Arsenal may rue selling Hale Ender for £2m

Things have just not gone Arsenal’s way this season.

Mikel Arteta has had to deal with poor decisions, a mountain of injuries, and a frontline that, when fit, has underwhelmed.

While Bukayo Saka was on a tear prior to his injury, and even Kai Havertz looked on course for a 20-goal season, the likes of Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard have been disappointing.

However, with the German now out for the season, the Belgian and Brazilian – when back from his own injury – will need to seriously up their game, especially as they’re being outscored by a former academy star who was sold for just £2m.

Martinelli & Trossard’s season in numbers

Following a stellar campaign in which he scored 17 goals and provided two assists in 46 appearances for Arsenal, which is an average of a goal involvement every 2.42 games, there was an expectation among fans that Trossard would be just as effective this year.

Unfortunately, that has simply not been the case, as while he’s looked a little better in recent weeks, the Waterschei-born ace hasn’t been anywhere near as dangerous as he was.

For example, in his 36 appearances thus far, totalling 2190 minutes, the 30-year-old has scored five goals and provided seven assists, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 3.08 games, or every 183 minutes, which really isn’t good enough for a winger in a title-chasing team.

Likewise, before his injury, Martinelli was having a rather underwhelming campaign in terms of his output.

He’s scored just seven goals and provided four assists in 35 appearances, totalling 2378 minutes, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 3.18 games, or every 216 minutes.

In short, neither winger has been playing to the standard required this season, and now that Havertz has been ruled out for the rest of the campaign, they’ll have to seriously step up their game, especially as a former youth player deemed surplus to requirements has been outscoring them.

The Hale End star outscoring Trossard and Martinelli

There are several Hale End graduates having great campaigns across England and Europe this season, from Emile Smith Rowe with Fulham to Donyell Malen, who just joined Aston Villa.

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However, in this instance, the player in question is not just a former academy player; he is the club’s second all-time top goalscorer for the U21s: Chuba Akpom.

Yes, before he went out on a myriad of loan moves that ultimately saw him move to Greek side PAOK Salonika for £2m in August 2018, the Canning Town-born poacher racked up an impressive tally of 33 goals for the U21s, which remains second only to Folarin Balogun’s 37.

Since leaving the Gunners, the Englishman has enjoyed fruitful spells with PAOK, Middlesbrough, and Dutch giants Ajax, and then on February 2nd, he joined French side LOSC Lille on a short-term loan with an option to buy.

Moreover, while the “terrific” striker, as dubbed by former manager Michael Carrick , has swapped teams halfway through the campaign, he’s enjoyed a relatively successful season in front of goal.

For example, in 35 appearances, totalling 1698 minutes, the 29-year-old sharpshooter has scored ten goals and provided one assist, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 3.18 games, or more crucially, every 154.36 minutes.

Ultimately, at the start of the season, the idea of Akpom possibly getting any game time at Arsenal would have been laughable.

Still, with the number of injuries the team now have, combined with the poor form of Trossard and Martinelli, we can’t help but think he’d be a useful squad player at the very least.

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