Oleksandr Zinchenko has admitted that his love for Arsenal nearly lost him his chance of making it with Shakhtar Donetsk's academy.
Somewhere in the Ukraine club's archives, there's a video of a 14-year-old Zinchenko showing off his skills, when someone asks him to speak about his dream. He replied by saying that his ultimate goal was to play for Arsenal.
He was approached by a Shakhtar official the following day, who informed the now Gunners defender that he needed to reshoot the video.
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Zinchenko told Sky Sports News: "He said: 'We need to film it again because the club is going to sack you!'. They told me: 'just say you want to play for Shakhtar, not Arsenal!'. It was so funny, I need to find that video."
After a successful spell with Manchester City, Zinchenko finally achieved his dream of playing for the club he supported as a boy. Now, he has the chance to win a Premier League title with them, though he's not getting carried away with that thought.
"I live in an area where there are so many Arsenal fans, [I see them out] while walking the dogs," he added. "The way they support and believe that we can achieve something, it's incredible. You can't imagine how much energy it gives you, just talking to one of them."
When asked whether the players share that same title-winning belief, he replied: "We don't look that far. We need to be focused on every single game and go step by step.
"For sure, the way the fans are supporting us, it's incredible and they deserve the best. But I tell you, there are only two things we need to do: hard work and belief. On top of it, there's consistency. There is no limit to improvement, there's a lot of space in every single detail. Every point is so important."
Zinchenko continued by explaining that teams can drop points at any given moment, especially when injuries impact the squad. Gabriel Jesus is currently out after undergoing surgery on his knee, meaning Eddie Nketiah is the club's only recognised centre-forward fit.
"I know it from the past. When I was at City, we were dropping a lot of really important points against teams where we were stronger [than them] because anything can happen in football. If we have chances to score, we need to score all of them.
"The most important thing is that everyone is humble and professional. Like you see now, we only have one striker - but we can play with no striker - and everyone needs to play his role. Now is the most important of the season and we need to fight for something big."
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