Arsenal have added a fifth body into their ranks, after it was as good as confirmed that Oleksandr Zinchenko has completed his move to the Emirates Stadium.
The deal, which will see the Gunners pay Manchester City £30 million, didn’t take long after the negotiations started last week.
His versatility to play as a left-back and a midfielder was of certain appeal to the Arsenal manager and the club’s hierarchy.
Everybody knows that the Ukrainian is a talented player and Man City’s Kyle Walker is just one of many admirers of the 25-year-old.
In an interview with YouTuber Timbsy after the end of the last campaign, the England international claimed that Zinchenko was one of the three best technicians in Pep Guardiola’s squad.
“He’s incredible… he’s incredible,” Walker said of Zinchenko. “Two touches, head tennis, he’s so good, so so good. But then you’re leaving out the likes of [Kevin] De Bruyne, Phil Foden, [Jack] Grealish, [Joao] Cancelo.”
He continued, “But they don’t come close to those three.”
That’s a very big comment, if you ask me. Choosing the new Arsenal man ahead of all the players City have at their disposal certainly speaks volume.
Think Zinchenko to Arsenal is a really underrated piece of business personally.
Just because he couldn't start over Cancelo (One of the best players in the league) doesn't make him a bad player by any standard.
Still only 25, plenty of time to grow, good deal all round.
— Ben Browning (@BenBrowning3) July 18, 2022
Zinchenko has certainly been unlucky to not start more matches at the Etihad Stadium, since his £1.6million move from Russian club FC Ufa in 2016.
City have always boasted world class players at every position of the field. Thus, not making the starting eleven of the team on a weekly basis is not something to be ashamed of.
Arsenal will certainly be able to hand more minutes to the Ukrainian international, which might help him unlock his true potential.
I think Zinchenko has gone under the radar until now. In North London, he might just explode.
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Even i can do head tennis,nothing special about it…..welcome oleks!!!
Dont get excited too soon, he may be reconsidering. Just saying!
But there is an agreed deal. So, its upto him.
Alright BOSS,i’ll stay quiet till it’s announced officially on the club’s website.LOL
Just saying.
Sky saying all agreed.
Zinchenko cost Citeh 2mill euro from Russian club FC Ufa in 2016.
Arsenal pay 30mill in 2022.
Why do we not produce more of our our own players? Why do we pay such horrendous transfer fees and pay massive salaries on top of that? When did the last Arsenal academy player sell for 30mill let alone 40/50 mill euro? Do we even need a coach or is it just management of expensive established players?
Vieira was free from the Porto academy.
Arsenal pay 34mill.
Saliba was free at the St-Eteienne academy.
Arsenal paid 27mill euro.
Tierney was free at the Celtic academy
Arsenal paid 27mill euro.
Gabriel cost Lille 3mill euro
Arsenal bought him for 27mill euro.
Aubameyang cost Dotmund 13mill euro
Arsenal paid Dortmund 63mill euro.
Lacazette was free from he Lyon academy.
Arseal paid 53mill euro
Ben White free from the Brighton academy.
Asenal pay 50m Euro.
Real madrid paid 3 mill euro for Odegaard.
Arsenal paid 36mill euro for Odegaard.
Pepe cost Lille 18m Euro in 2017.
Arsenal pay 80m euro two years later.
The reality is we are just like Chelsea and Man City with out the big trophies.
This deal is all but done Reggie.
It will be interesting to know what’s left in the war chest after this.
But we must not stop here, whether from loan, , players sale, or direct swap, another center forward and midfielder is needed especially with the new five change rules in mind.
It probably is Gunsmoke but Martin Blackburn says he is having a wobble. I dont care too much either way but its not 100%.
Iwobi and willock Martinez but get your point we give away seniors how are we supposed to sell youngsters? Omari Hutchinson
FF the natural extension of your fallacious and plain silly argument is that we should sign all players everywhere, when they are eight years old and have no transfer value .
Then we cankeewp them all til they retire and pay them huge wages ,thus going bankrupt in the meantime , whilst hoping a tiny few come through at age 18-21. You really do write some tosh at times!
It seems not to have occurred to you that players improve massively, at different ages sometimes and that no club in the world, unless owned by NOSTRADAMUS, can RATIONALLY AND SENSIBLE be expected to know, years in advance, what level some players will reach, while many others remain near useless .
Your “thinking” is faulty old son!!
EsR Saka Eddie didn’t cost anything…..Wenger was After Odegaaed and Auba back to 2015….You are not alonein the market Fairfan….Agréé Jon FF is wrong
Every player comes from somewhere mate, nobody produces their team not even up to 50%. Madrid just paid 100m for Monaco academy graduate. City paid 100m for Aston Villas greenish and I can go on and on for every club. So stop trying so hard to be negative on ARSENAL. we have our own Academy graduates that we can also sell and make millions.
We sold Iwobi for 40million…
And how much do you reckon we will sell Saka if we wish to? How much did we sell our Academy player to Newcastle ? Every club would have to spend money on a required position that cannot be filled by an academy player. For you to compete, you’ll need to get the best players irrespective of which club they play for. No player is actually free in the true sense of the word. Academies invest in training their players.
Zinchenko plays left midfield the same as Paqueta so I don’t see why we are looking at Paqueta when we now have Vieira as well as Odegaard and Smith Rowe. Surely we don’t need 4players for one position. For the fee quoted for Paqueta I would rather go for a player who is similarly priced Sergei Milinkovic Savic This guy is more of an all round midfielder who can score, create, and play a deeper role as he did last season for Lazio while still managing 11 goals and 11 assists. At 6 inches taller than Paqueta he is strong in the air, something we are lacking. His ball retention skills are at times breathtaking. There are several videos and I urge you to scroll down to find the 20 minute video “The complete midfielder” which showcases all his various skills and qualities. There will be no sell on value which goes a little against our current profile but he would give us 4/5 years of something special. Club willing to sell at right price and he’s open to a move, top top player.
He is rated at 63M pounds!
Do you think we can afford him with the owners we have?
A lot of talk about Zinchenko been a bit part player in city, thats utter rubbish, no one that has watched him would not see a certain quality there we lacking in some positions, Sanchez could hardly start in Barca, we brought him in and the rest history, wise we didnt pay 55m for an unproven and then the fans start moaning.
Wow!!! Welcome Zic….