Arsenal are closing in on the potential signing of Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City. The Ukrainian international has seen the clubs agree on a fee in the region of £30 million and now personal terms are in the process of being agreed.
Arsenal have already signed one player from Manchester City with the arrival of Gabriel Jesus. The Brazilian has captured the attention of most of the fanbase and beyond for his three goals in his first two appearances this preseason.
However, despite the aura of the 25-year-old forward, his former club City will supposedly miss Zinchenko even more. I spoke to chief Manchester City correspondent for the Manchester Evening News Simon Bajkowski on The Arsenal Way about the versatile man and the loss compared to Jesus was a highlight of the conversation.
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“Absolutely, I think City will miss Zinchenko more than they would miss Jesus because they’ve got the firepower up front that they haven’t had over the last two seasons. Whereas they will move to replace Zinchenko,” said Bajkowski.
“He was an important member of the dressing room but also he could play in so many different positions. He rarely played defensive midfield for them, but he got pushed in there last season at home against Paris Saint Germain and ran the game.”
Although the loss of Zinchenko is sizeable, perhaps the beginning of the campaign will not be all that different for City without him. Bajkowski highlights how it took time for him to work his way into the season although it should be said that at Arsenal with more regular minutes this is expected to change.
“I think a lot of the reasons why he didn’t play more for City were, he struggled at the beginning of seasons. I think there was a disparity between when you’re not playing every week at City and then you go away with your national team and it's so intense, and he didn’t often play in the first half of the campaigns,” he claims.
“But by January he kind of came into his own every year. You could sort of set your watch by it; I mean he started the Champions League final against Chelsea instead of Joao Cancelo.
“Which is mad when you think about it, but no one raised an eyelid at the time because he’d earned his place. I do know he’s been working on his fitness, so he tried to cut that out and he’s absolutely ready for these first few months.
“Of course, Ukraine not [being] at the World Cup will help in terms of workload. He’s certainly not surplus to requirements and I think it’s just the nature of Pep Guardiola having a small squad at City, but he has a small squad where everyone has to be ready to play in that first team any time.”
Zinchenko will compete with both Kieran Tierney and Granit Xhaka for two positions. As Mikel Arteta prepares Arsenal to fight on four fronts this season, a player of his versatility will be invaluable, especially considering the aforementioned Scot’s injury record and the Swiss midfielder’s disciplinary run-ins with officials.
The hope will be an agreement over personal terms is sorted swiftly so that Zinchenko can make the short hop to Florida, with City also in the US for their preseason tour, and he can take part in potentially the remaining friendly against Chelsea.
If not, Sevilla in the Emirates Cup could be the first opportunity to see Zinchenko. Failing that the opening game of the season against Crystal Palace beckons as the clock ticks ever closer to the new campaign.
Watch the full interview with Simon Bajkowski covering Oleksandr Zinchenko here.
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