Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta may have got one over his former boss Pep Guardola as the Gunners look close to signing Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City.
Arteta, who previously served as Guardiola’s assistant at the Etihad Stadium, has turned to his former club this summer as he looks to strengthen the Gunners’ squad ahead of a 2022/23 campaign that will see his side return to European football via the group stages of the Europa League.
Already, Arsenal have spent £45million on signing Brazilian forward Gabriel Jesus from the Sky Blues, with the 56-time international in line to be Arteta’s primary striker ahead of the upcoming campaign.
Jesus is likely to be joined in north London by one of his City teammates in Oleksandr Zinchenko, with reports suggesting that Arsenal have agreed a deal to sign the Ukrainian and that the Gunners are discussing personal terms with the 25-year-old over a switch to the Emirates Stadium.
While Zinchenko will leave City off the back of a trophy-filled spell that includes winning both the Premier League and the Carabao Cup four times apiece, regular minutes and being used in a preferred position is something he is much more likely to get outside of Manchester.
Of his 127 City appearances to date, almost all of them have come at left-back, compared to his country where many of Zinchenko’s caps have been in midfield, an area of the pitch where the Ukrainian is able to express his qualities and influence a game more so than at the back.
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Reports last month suggested that should Zinchenko follow Jesus’ pattern and swap Manchester for north London, it is claimed that the 25-year-old is more likely to be used in a midfield role, with current left-back Kieran Tierney being among the club’s top stars at present.
Should that happen, it would follow the pattern of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s move from Arsenal to Liverpool in 2017, with a big lure of the move being a change in position from being used as a winger to playing in central midfield.
It is that prospect that could see Arteta get one over on Guardiola in a bid to land the move, with Jesus and Raheem Sterling both already leaving City this summer, despite them winning the Premier League title in four of the last five seasons.
If Zinchenko’s move does go ahead, he will be battling the likes of Granit Xhaka, Emile Smith Rowe, Martin Odegaard, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny for minutes in central midfield next term.
Zinchenko joined City in 2016 and has since played 128 games, with 76 of those appearances coming in the Premier League across five full seasons.
However, Zinchenko has never played more than 20 league games in a single Premier League season and the chance to move to a side also competing in Europe where he is more likely to both play and in a more preferred role may be an opportunity that is simply too good to ignore.
