DANIEL MATTHEWS: Oleksandr Zinchenko’s reunion with Mikel Arteta will boost Arsenal’s ambitions… the versatile Ukrainian will add technical quality and habits of success gained at Man City once the £32m move is completed
Oleksandr Zinchenko has flown to Florida to complete a £32million transfer to Arsenal
The versatile Ukrainian international will be Arsenal’s fifth summer signing
The 25-year-old bolsters Mikel Arteta’s options at left back and midfield
He was very popular at Man City with teammates who admired his selflessness
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The story goes that Arsene Wenger caught a glimpse of Oleksandr Zinchenko in 2014 when the Ukrainian was just 17. “I need him,” Wenger said, according to the player’s agent at the time.
Eight years later, Zinchenko is an Arsenal player. He has flown to Florida to complete a £32million transfer, following a last supper with Pep Guardiola and Manchester City’s team-mates with whom he won four Premier League titles. The Ukrainian will be Arsenal’s fifth summer signing. He already feels like one of the most important.
Zinchenko will add versatility and technical quality to Arsenal’s squad. The 25-year-old is strengthening his options at left back and midfield.
Oleksandr Zinchenko won four league titles with Man City but now joins Arsenal for £32million
The Ukrainian will add versatility, strength and technical quality to Arsenal’s young squad
Kyle Walker recently ranked him among City’s three most technically gifted players in training — above Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden and Joao Cancelo. “They don’t come close,” Walker said.
“Zinchenko is incredible.” Arsenal wanted a left back and a central midfielder this summer. Mikel Arteta has brought in someone who can do both, someone who knows the Premier League and who knows it.
Kieran Tierney is Arsenal’s first-choice left-back, but with his injury problems, Zinchenko offers more than enough cover.
In central midfield, he seems perfectly suited to play to the left of Arteta’s three. There he played for Ukraine in the World Cup play-offs last month, when his positional intelligence and quick feet stood out.
Zinchenko offers more than enough cover for first-choice Arsenal left-back Kieran Tierney
Guardiola believes Zinchenko is at his best as a creative midfielder. An extra? Zinchenko will also bring habits of success, mined in City.
Arteta, who worked with him under Guardiola, is looking for ideas from older players about how they ‘want to live’ and how they ‘want to be perceived’. Zinchenko could be a fertile source of standards.
At City, he was very popular among his team-mates, who admired his selflessness and how he dealt with the trauma of the war.
City manager Pep Guardiola thinks Zinchenko is at his best as a creative midfielder
In 2018, Zinchenko almost joined Wolves. City were stunned to stay and thought he lacked ambition, only for the Ukrainian to force his way into the team and become integral.
Fittingly, his closing act for City came against Aston Villa on the last day of last season, as his introduction proved key to the remarkable comeback that ended with a fourth title in five years.
The boy who first met Arteta at City now arrives at Arsenal as a man, a father and a player of experience and exceptional quality.
The boy who first met Mikel Arteta at City now arrives at Arsenal as a man, a father and a player