Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta (Picture: Getty) Arsenal chiefs were full of praise for summer signing Christos Tzolis at the Champions League draw and told Club Brugge of his exploits in training. Greece international Tzolis signed a long-term contract at the Emirates Stadium in July after Arsenal agreed a £34m deal with Club Brugge. Mikel Arteta targeted the 24-year-old after sanctioning the exit of Leandro Trossard, while Arsenal also put Gabriel Martinelli up for the sale. Tzolis has enjoyed a bright start to his career in north London, helping the Premier League champions win their first four games of the season ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League opener against Napoli. Exclusive Premier League previews Get ahead of the start of the season with our weekly football newsletter. Sign up now for free. After bringing Tzolis to the club, Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta insisted the Greek winger would ‘raise the technical level of our squad’ and bring a ‘strong mentality to our team’. Those high up at the Emirates Stadium were equally positive about Tzolis when bumping into officials from Club Brugge during last month’s Champions League draw in Monaco. President of the Belgian club, Bart Verhaeghe, said Arsenal were raving about the £34m signing and revealed he had been ‘coming out on top’ in various tests in training. Arsenal summer signing Christos Tzolis (Picture: Getty) ‘At the Champions League draw, I saw people from Arsenal and they showed a tremendous amount of respect,’ Verhaeghe told Het Belang van Limburg. ‘”What a player you’ve delivered”, they told me. They said he has an excellent attitude, is the best in the physical tests and is a great guy, too.’ In a separate interview with Het Laatste Nieuws, the Club Brugge chief added: ‘Arsenal said “what a player” when they approached me after the draw. https://www.instagram.com/p/Dc9S3CDETkp/?hl=en&img_index=1 ‘Christos had come out on top in all the tests. That’s what we do here: deliver a ready-made product. Because we know what those top teams are looking for. We prepare our players for that kind of football. ‘Back then, people laughed at our holistic approach to nutrition, sleep, special glasses… Today, it’s all standard practice. We were the innovators from day one, and we’ll keep innovating. ‘Today, we’re selling players to Arsenal and Inter Milan, two teams that have reached the Champions League final in the last two years. {"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Mikel Arteta speaks before Champions League match against Napoli","contentUrl":"https:\/\/videos.metro.co.uk\/video\/met\/2026\/09\/08\/3761798954835882587\/480x270_MP4_3761798954835882587.mp4","description":"Arsenal's Mikel speaks to the press on Tuesday ahead of their Champions League match against Napoli on Wednesday at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.","duration":"T1M34S","height":270,"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i.dailymail.com\/1s\/2026\/09\/08\/22\/111127717-0-image-m-34_1788904072537.jpg","uploadDate":"2026-09-08T22:46:27+0100","width":480} To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Up Next Previous Page Next Page window.addEventListener('metroVideo:relatedVideosCarouselLoaded', function(data) { if (typeof(data.detail) === 'undefined' || typeof(data.detail.carousel) === 'undefined' || typeof(data.detail.carousel.el_) === 'undefined') { return; } var player = data.detail.carousel.el_; var container = player.closest('.metro-video-player'); var placeholder = container.querySelector('.metro-video-player__up-next-placeholder'); if (placeholder) { container.removeChild(placeholder); container.classList.add('metro-video-player--related-videos-loaded'); } }); ‘And at the same time, we’re recruiting directly from the Premier League, from a club like West Ham. 10 years ago, that was unthinkable.’ Last month, Arsenal defender Ben White revealed Tzolis was ‘beating everyone’ in pre-season testing. ‘Christo
Erling Haaland after Manchester City’s win over Porto (Picture: Amazon) Erling Haaland believes Manchester City have found a new weapon as they look to dethrone Premier League champions Arsenal. Man City began their Champions League campaign with an impressive 2-0 win over Portuguese giants Porto. After a goalless first half, prolific goalscorer Haaland gave Man City the lead with a 47th-minute header. The Norwegian superstar put the game to bed with City’s second in injury time, taking his tally for the club to 36 Champions League goals in only 40 appearances. Exclusive Premier League previews Get ahead of the start of the season with our weekly football newsletter. Sign up now for free. Haaland’s form was not the only promising sign for Manchester City, with Enzo Fernandez impressing following his £125m move from Chelsea and £86m signing Ayyoub Bouaddi thriving on his first start for the club. Man City’s midfield was weekended by Rodri’s £65m move to Barcelona but Etihad bosses appear to have signed well in Fernandez and Bouaddi. Morocco international Bouaddi only joined City two weeks ago but has already impressed Haaland, who described him as a ‘gem’ and revealed he had told decision-makers at the club that he looked ‘amazing’ in training. Manchester City’s £86m signing Ayyoub Bouaddi (Picture: Getty) ‘I think he played a very good game,’ Haaland said of 18-year-old Bouaddi, who was linked with several Premier League clubs before joining Man City. ‘Last couple of weeks in training, I told the chairman that he has been amazing, so I think we have a gem here. ‘But to be honest, I think he should of played me through in the second half when I was all alone. I was a bit angry, so I will tell him right now, he played a good game, except that pass!’ Haaland scored twice against Porto (Picture: Getty) Manchester City boss Enzo Maresca also praised Bouaddi, describing his performance against Porto as ‘unbelievable’. ‘The good thing is that from Erling [Haaland], Ruben [Dias], Mateo [Kovacic] you expect how to manage this game but Ayyoub was never in panic,’ Maresca told Amazon Prime. ‘He was very good and I think the performance was unbelievable.’ Erling Haaland reacts to Man City's win in Porto 🗣️Still a few bits to learn for new signing Ayyoub Bouaddi 😅 pic.twitter.com/bbAeD1y905— Prime Video Sport UK (@primevideosport) September 8, 2026 Discussing Man City’s win more generally, ex-Chelsea manager Maresca added: ‘I think we could’ve scored more goals, especially in the first half but overall I think we deserved to win the game. ‘We created enough chances to win the game. We didn’t concede a lot. It’s normal to come here and concede some chances because it’s normal, so overall happy with the performance. ‘I think I am lucky because all the squad is good players, for a manager it is easy because you can give minutes to all of them, and tonight I think the guys that were inside were very good.’ Haaland was also pleased with City’s display out in Portugal, saying: ‘It was a difficult fight, man against man. They are a top team, honestly they are impressive. ‘They play amazing football so well done to them, but with all the pressure [on us] we had to deliver on the biggest stage. That’s what we did today.’ Manchester City suffered a deflating 3-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Community Shield last month but have not put a foot wrong since the season started. City will look to maintain their perfect start to the Premier League campaign on Sunday when they make the short trip to Old Trafford to face rivals Manchester United. For more stories like this, check our sport page. Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Comment now Comments Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google Add as preferred source
Considering there is less than 100 miles of water between the countries, it is surprising that the national football teams have met so rarely.
That was because of the air traffic control issues in the UK, with planes at most major UK airports grounded on Tuesday following a 'technical failure'.
Tap a headline to view metadata and excerpt fields in Sportra, then use the article website button to continue on the original publisher page.
/https%3A%2F%2Fsportsmole-media-prod.s3.gra.io.cloud.ovh.net%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F09%2Fdavid-klein-sportimage-arsenal-manager-mikel-arteta-claps-on-september-6-2026-6aa09ed6e2507980408557.jpg)
/https%3A%2F%2Fsportsmole-media-prod.s3.gra.io.cloud.ovh.net%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F08%2Fimago1082070778-1-6a92f5c812420754359596.jpg)
