Brighton star Adam Lallana has stated the club will be able to cope without Leandro Trossard who is on the verge of completing a January transfer to Arsenal. After opening official talks with the Seagulls for Trossard, football.london understands the Gunners have agreed a £21million deal plus add-ons for his services on a contract until 2027 with an option for a further year.
Despite losing manager Graham Potter to Chelsea, Brighton have continued their impressive Premier League form under Roberto De Zerbi, with Trossard used as a key player in his setup until recently. The Belgian is the club's joint top scorer so far this season with seven goals alongside Pascal Gross and Alexis Mac Allister.
However, the relationship between De Zerbi and Trossard took a turn for the worse after the 28-year-old's response to being left out of the squad to take on Middlesbrough in the FA Cup.
READ MORE: Leandro Trossard to Arsenal transfer latest: Edu talks, price tag revealed, agreement reached
"Leandro Trossard isn't on the list for next game," De Zerbi said ahead of Brighton's 3-0 win over Liverpool. "The last session before last game, when he understood he wasn't playing, he left the session without telling me anything. I told him I don't like this attitude."
He then later added: "I don't know about the transfer market, if he wants to change teams or not. I am open with him to take a step back and listen to him but he has to understand with me, I want only players who work hard and play for the team 100%."
In his absence, Brighton have scored 12 goals from three games, with his direct replacement Kaoru Mitoma thriving in the role and contributing to several of those goals. Because of those results and the performances of players who have come for in Trossard, most notably Mitoma and Evan Ferguson, Lallana is of the belief the Seagulls will not struggle if he departs the south coast.
Speaking to Sky Sports, via Metro, he said: "You only need to look at the last three games without him, I think it’s been 5-1, 4-1 and 3-0. So as I said to you earlier, players can leave Brighton but we’ve got enough without them."
Trossard will not be the first big-name departure with Brighton recouping roughly £173million from key players leaving the club in recent seasons, yet they have continued their upward surge in the Premier League and the former Liverpool man expects the result from this deal being no different.
"We had enough without [Yves] Bissouma, [Marc] Cucurella, Ben White, Dan Burn, when Neal [Maupay] moved on," he said. "So if Leo moves on we’ll cope. We’re coping already."
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