It was entirely in keeping with his character for Oleksandr Zinchenko to rock up at Arsenal in the summer and tell his new teammates they needed to forget their top three ambitions and think about winning the title instead. It is also no surprise that those who laughed at the Ukrainian initially are no longer doing so.
Most of Zinchenko's career has been about proving people wrong. Manchester City were willing to let him leave during most transfer windows in the six years he was at City, happy for him to take the easier option of finding regular football elsewhere rather than trying to break into Pep Guardiola's side.
Each time Zinchenko declined, and each time he found a way of working his way into the City team by the end of the season. In 2021, there were no raised eyebrows when he kept Joao Cancelo out of the starting XI for the Champions League final while he had a pivotal role in their dramatic 3-2 win over Aston Villa on the final day of last season to see them pip Liverpool to the title.
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Zinchenko dreamed big, and then worked harder than anybody else to make those aspirations a reality. Both qualities endeared him no end to Guardiola, who came to rely on Zinchenko as an invaluable squad member even if City never truly counted on the player.
It would be wrong to say it was a mistake for the Blues to let him leave last summer, because that is a fundamental pillar of squad happiness: give everything you have while you are here, and if you want to go elsewhere bring in a suitable offer and it will be taken seriously. Zinchenko wanted to leave, so when Arsenal offered up a considerable sum there was never any doubt that City would block the transfer.
The suggestion that City haven't replaced Zinchenko is more on the money, but then finding someone who could bring everything that the Arsenal man does is harder than expected. The decision to stick with the hunger of Sergio Gomez rather than a more senior left-back after refusing to meet the asking price for Marc Cucurella doesn't appear to have paid off, yet Rico Lewis is starting to show the technical ability that Zinchenko possessed.
What is missing perhaps is that spark that Zinchenko carried with him from the dressing room to the pitch. When Guardiola speaks of the lack of protection offered by teammates towards Lewis, it is hard not to imagine that the Ukrainian would have been at the front of the queue defending the youngster from bad tackles.
There are plenty of players still in the squad who offer the excellent attitude of Zinchenko - Nathan Ake, Manu Akanji and Erling Haaland to name a few - and others who offer that passionate leadership but the more of both sides that are present in a squad the better. City's loss has been Arsenal's gain.
And while there is no point sulking over that, the return of Zinchenko to the Etihad on Friday can instead be used by Guardiola as a living, breathing example of how everyone can be a bit more like the defender whatever their position in the squad. Just because City have missed what he has brought to the group, it doesn't mean that can never be replaced.
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