Arsenal have confirmed the signing of Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City as the midfielder becomes the club's fifth arrival of the summer transfer window.
The Ukraine international, who can also operate at left-back, is said to have cost the Gunners a fee in the region of £32m, taking the club's total spend this summer past the £100m mark once again following deals for Marquinhos, Fabio Vieira, Matt Turner and Gabriel Jesus.
Interestingly, Zinchenko's move to Arsenal was all but confirmed during the club's 3-1 pre-season friendly win over Orlando City in the early hours on Thursday (UK time) as he was spotted in the stands with technical director Edu and was wearing his new training gear earlier in the day.
In fact, manager Mikel Arteta broke his silence on the transfer in the post-match press conference, heaping praise on the 25-year-old whilst revealing when an official announcement would be made: "Yes as you've seen he's here," the Spaniard said. "There are still a few formalities to get everything concreted, but really happy to have him.
"I know the player really well. He's an exceptional footballer and is someone that is going to bring a competitive edge to that dressing room." A bit of time has passed since those comments but the transfer has now been confirmed on social media and via Arsenal.com as a statement reads: "Oleksandr Zinchenko has joined us on a long-term contract from Manchester City. The 25-year-old brings huge experience of the Premier League and international football to our squad, having made 128 appearances for Manchester City and playing 52 times for his country Ukraine.
"Alex developed through the youth academy at Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk, moving to FC Ufa in Russia in 2015. After 31 appearances with FC Ufa, he signed for Manchester City in June 2016, spending the 2016/17 on loan at Dutch side PSV Eindhoven, before returning to City the following season.
"Left-sided player Alex, who is comfortable operating in midfield and defence, has won both the Premier League and League Cup four times. He has also won the FA Cup once and played in the 2021 UEFA Champions League final."
The arrival of Zinchenko is not expected to be the end of Arsenal's business this summer. Arteta has already revealed that he remains hopeful of bolstering his options even further before the window slams shut at the beginning of September but also admits he must trim the size of his squad.
"I don't know, it's what we have today, and as well we have a large squad, so we have to make some decisions on the players that we're not going to be using consistently and be fair and straight with them, and that's a process that's going to start very soon, as well," he added.
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