Trossard leaves Arsenal for Beşiktaş in a £17m move to Turkey

Leandro Trossard has left Arsenal for Beşiktaş, the Turkish club completing the signing of the Belgium forward in a deal Arsenal confirmed on 15 July. The move ends a three-and-a-half-year stay in north London that brought Trossard a Premier League title and a reputation as one of the sharpest impact players in the division.

Beşiktaş will pay a fee reported at around £17m, made up of an initial £15.3m with a further £1.7m tied to add-ons. Trossard has signed a three-year contract in Istanbul, with the club holding an option to extend it by a further season.

A useful career at Arsenal ends on a high

Trossard arrived from Brighton in January 2023 for a fee that rose towards £27m with add-ons, and he quickly became the kind of player Mikel Arteta could throw on with a game in the balance. He scored and set up goals off the bench often enough that the label of super-sub followed him around, even as he started plenty of matches too. Few Arsenal supporters will forget the afternoon at Fulham when he laid on all three goals inside a single half.

His final season was his most decorated. Arsenal won the Premier League and reached the Champions League final, where they lost to Paris Saint-Germain on penalties. Trossard, at 31, leaves as a title winner rather than a player being moved on for the wrong reasons, and that matters for how the transfer reads.

Why now, and what Arsenal do next

The logic behind the sale is straightforward enough. Trossard is into his thirties and wants regular football, and Arsenal have spent the summer reshaping an attack that fell just short of the biggest prizes. Selling a squad player who still carries real value frees up money and a place in the forward line, and reports in England have linked the Gunners with a younger wide option to take his role.

For Arsenal, £17m for a 31-year-old with a year or two left at the top is sound business. For Trossard, it is a chance to be a first-choice attacker again rather than a rotation option, and to keep the minutes flowing with a place in Belgium’s plans still worth protecting.

A statement buy for Beşiktaş

Beşiktaş have been busy. Trossard is one of several new faces this window as the Istanbul club look to climb back up the Süper Lig after finishing fourth last season, a return that fell short of their own expectations. A Premier League winner with Champions League experience is a different level of arrival, and it signals that Beşiktaş intend to challenge at the top again.

The Süper Lig has become a familiar landing spot for experienced players from Europe’s biggest leagues, and Trossard fits the pattern without feeling like a player running down his career. He can still play, he can still finish, and he gives Beşiktaş something they have lacked: a proven match-winner who has done it on the sport’s biggest nights.

Follow the rest of the summer’s transfer business