Ornstein confirms Arsenal are going back for Oleksandr Zinchenko

So now it is 99% certain that Arsenal have lost out to Manchester United in their quest to bring Lisandro Martinez to the Emirates, it seems that Mikel Arteta is still intent on bringing in extra cover for Kieran Tierney at left back, and who better for that role than the versatile Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City.

Pep Guardiola has already allowed Gabriel Jesus to move to Arsenal this summer, and hopefully Mikel Arteta can also persude his old friend to let him have Zinchenko as well.

Ornstein seems convinced that the Gunners have a good chance of securing this target, considering he has already worked with the Ukranian when he worked at the Etihad. This is how David Ornstein described the situation: The clubs are in contact over a potential transfer and it is believed that City are open to sanctioning the 25-year-old’s sale if their valuation is met.

That has not happened so far but talks continue, with Arsenal thought to be prioritising Zinchenko after missing out on Ajax’s Lisandro Martinez.

If an agreement can be reached with City on a fee and the Ukraine international over personal terms, Arsenal would be acquiring a player with whom manager Mikel Arteta has been keen to reunite.

That sounds very promising to me, and I would hope that Zinchenko would come a little cheaper that the price we paid for Jesus. Although the Ukranian international has been at Man City for 6 years, he is still only 25 years old and is the perfect age to join Mikel Arteta’s youth-with-experience project, and even better still, he has extensive knowledge of the Premier League.

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57 Comments

      1. A better deal than Lisandro to me. Premier league proven, has been playing at the highest level, not a gamble signing and also versatile and young.
        Arsenal didn’t loose out but just took the decision not to pay over board for a player that is not premier league proven, and being considered as a back up defender. I’d rather we spend that money on Zinchenko.
        If arsenal had met Ajaxs ever increasing valuation, the player would have come.
        We move! COYG!!!

      2. We seem to be jumping from one player to the next. Makes it seem like we had no proper plan that we can carry through..

        It seems to be very half hearted.. “One leg in and the other out” kind of thing..

        1. Goonster, or Arsenal has a list of players for required positions, which they have priced and prioritised. If they lose out on priority 1 for price or personal term reasons they move on. My concern is that no specialist DM’s appear to be targetted.

      1. @IDontKnowWhyIcare..
        I am not being gullible or just believe whatever is reported but there are some transfer / links that must have a lot of truth in them..
        Apart from Fabio Vieira that suprised everyone, more than 90% of players that are at Arsenal were first linked as rumours and those rumours persisted to when we signed them..
        The few persistent rumours are what I reas more into..

        I will ask, Do you think we were ever in for G. Jesus, Marquinhos, M.Turner? And where did you first here about them being targets for Arsenal?

        Another question. Do you think we were ever in for Raphinha, Lisandro Martinez?

        Or do you think we have ever enquired about the likes of Tielemans, Savic, Luca Paqueta?

        There are some links that look genuine and those that don’t.

        Do you think Spurs were ever in for Richarlson, Bissouma, Clement Lenglet etc..

        1. Agree Goonester. of course there is trash news everywhere (like Sun linking us to Kante), but there are well sourced papers that are more reliable. Reporters have contacts and are sometimes able to get news on this stuff, while other papers make it up for clicks. To paint a brush and say Daily Mail and The Athletic have the same level of integrity would be grossly inaccurate. If The Athletic, or Romano, and a few other reliable journalists are reporting something, there is USUALLY merit to it.

        2. “Headless Chicken” puts a negative spin on what is a normal part of the transfer window process. All clubs typically have a list of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choice players that they would like to buy since they do not control the whole process that involves 3 parties.

          Not only that, but when a club succeeds or fails in bringing in a particular player it creates a need for constant reassessment for other targets for other positions within the squad. For example, they might have two targets in mind that would work well together but when they fail to secure one, the other becomes less desirable because the backup target for the one that was missed out on has slightly different characteristics that need to be paired up with someone different.

          And then there is the money. Even if they succeed in getting a player, maybe they paid more than they wanted to, according to their budget contraints, which means they have to now look for a cheaper option in another position and abandon the 1st choice that the papers have informed us about.

          There is just so much that they cannot control that the plan necessarily involves a lot of contingencies that can look half-hazard even though it is according to a plan that must evolve when you don’t get what you want.

          The only clubs that seem to avoid much of this are the top clubs with the biggest draw (i.e. everyone wants to play for them) and the biggest amounts of cash. Arsenal is not one of those clubs at the moment so they often are not able to get what they want.

        3. @Goonster

          You wrote “we seem to be jumping from one player to the next”.

          That is based on what you read in the media. QED

          P.S. I don’t read it that way. And I showed you how other clubs are seeing reports of many more rumours than Arsenal, but you chose to ignore that.

    1. Problem is we just tried to force deals that were not within our budget. We did not want to pay the Raphinha money (he didnt favor us anyways), and Lisandro fee was just laughable and kept going up every week. Glad we dropped out of that race. Still got a decent chunk of time in the window to bring in a LB and a CM. Seems like it is between Paqueta/Tielemans right now. And we’ve cooled our interest in a wide player. Maybe that could because Mikel likes what he sees from Marquinhos, and Pepe has no suitors.

      1. 👍RSH, although Zinchenko is versatile, he prefers to play midfield and due to his defensive strength can act as DM alongside augmenting or instead of Partey.

  1. Zinchenko wants to play attacking midfield football. Now we have Vieira.
    Just wondering how this works out

    1. Hes a defender/box to box midfielder…whats the issue if this were a true rumour? versatile, cover for granit or tierney….or ahead of both over the season.

  2. He can play as a box to box CM and LB. If the amount is good and his willing to join our project bring him on.

  3. But, it actually would have made more sense if we had negotiated the sale of Jesus and Zinchenko together. Going back to Man city for another player of theirs for a buy, might not be easy as we think.

  4. Ornstein is one of thr VERY few journos who writes from inside knowlefge and whose comments therefore attract widspread excitement, with justification.
    As such, this rumour excites me and I HOPE AND PRAY it comes true.

    Zinchenko is a proven TOP, TOP class player, well known to MA. If we can bring him to us it will mean a massive strengthening of our team.

    Fingers crossed then with excitement, based entirely upon the Ornstein source of this story. If this comes true it will be, IMO, the best signing this summer so far.

  5. Been hoping we sign him for day one!

    Perfect cover for Tierney and when KT is fit then he can take Xhaka’s place next to Partey (if MA will drop his favourite and if Partey is still available as an Arsenal player)

    1. Not to pre-judge anything that’s sub judice of course, but there’s a report on BBC that whoever was arrested over the allegations in North London has been released on police bail and since no charges have been brought yet, that person is now free to travel abroad with their club for now.

      Sadly, that seems to fit the activities in pre-season. However, it’s not to say that even if it is our man, that charges will be brought. Not all allegations are true.

      N.B. Just because those facts fit doesn’t mean it’s him of course.

      I’m trying to tread carefully here since Pat, as site owner, will be concerned over what’s said about a case that’s not been brought against anyone, let alone proven, as yet.

      1. I agree, that’s why I said “if”. No-one knows who it is, there’s just rumours at the moment.

        1. Can I just add that he has been released without charge and allowed to leave the country…… even if it is Thomas that was spoken to, it does not make him guilty.

          1. And can I just add that that is exactly what I said?

            The person concerned (whoever it may be) has been given police bail and has been allowed to leave the country to tour with his club.

  6. Wonderful. He’s who I preferred anyways. Hard to name a better backup LB, and overall utility player in the league. He’s been part of vital runs for City when M*ndy was always injured. Hope we get this one done.

  7. Zinchenko is SO underrated. He is technically extremely accomplished, always a calm head and equally good at LB and LM. At possible £35m a fantastic addition and far more useful than Tielemans, who I imagine we will jettison if Z comes. Paqueta coming would then make much more sense, but I feel Zinchenko could prove to be as vital as Jesus to us.

    1. Zinchenko is NOT at all underated. You need only read the posts on this thread to see he is highly rated and correctly too. Also at City he is much rated !
      Good post, apart from “underrated” and the Paqueta bit, which I disagree about.

  8. Not a fan, he is only a bit part player, i am not surprised to see people bulling him up to be something he isnt. He isnt a bad player and he seems eager but he struggled to get in city’s team on a regular basisi (many do i know) but we need specialists, not jack of all trades masters of none. I have been told that our targets are dropping like flies and we are moving down our list, so i suppose beggars cant be choosers but i keep seeing these types of players being signed, looking at our rivals signings and we are (not unexpectedly) seemingly not getting the quality of our rivals, or the type, i think we need to challenge them. I will be surprised if we do get Zinchenko but then again, if he is cheap, he would make a decent squad player. Our signing are very underwhelming with the exception of jesus and it seems we are just bloating our squad with very average players. I do appreciate that it is hard for Arsenal because we didn’t qualify for the CL but that is a handicap we must try to overcome. Im sorry but i think it is sad to see Arsenal struggling to sign players, dress it up how you like but we are.

  9. This story is becoming more and more liekely to happen as the hours pass Ther are now many soiurces saying City will seel at thprice threy want My view is that evenif we have to pay £50 mill Zinchenko is wellworthit to US.
    I now think it quite likely to happen and pray it does. Zinchenko would be IMO, A BETTER AND MORE IMPORTANT SIGNING EVEN THAN JESUS, GOOD AS JESUS IS!
    Guy on this thread believes Zinchenko is underrated. I disagree and think he is HIGHLY rated and correctly so, by almost all Gooners and certainly at City.
    IF we can land him it will be a massive plus, MAKE NO MISTAKE!!

    1. Agree. PL proven and great cover for Tierney. If his performance against Scotland was any indication, he’ll also give Xhaka some competition as well. If he signs, would love to see the penny drop with AMN and be happy with a similar role on the right.

  10. I have to say I am not very enthusiastic at the prospect of acquiring Zinchenko .He is a very decent ,intelligent player, but he lacks pace and physicality which we need to take our midfield to a a higher level.Elneny,Odegaard and Xhaka are plodders in terms of speed and we urgently need a real physical athlete in our engine room if we are to challenge the top four.As it is, Zinchenko has been used ,almost exclusively as a LB by Man City who of course have not had the services of Mendy and I cannot believe they would sell the Ukranian unless they have a natural LB lined up.

    1. Cant help but agree Grandad. He has never established himself ever at City. Not a bad player but a little underwhelming. Not once in my time of watching football have i ever watched Zinchenko and thought, i wish he was at Arsenal.

      1. @Reggie
        What gets me is, many on here were going on about how they didn’t want Martinez from Ajax because he was too short (1.75) and a utility player. While Zinchenko is 1.75 and a utility player as well…🤔

          1. Thats what i mean jack of all master of none. Plus when Tierney and Partey are out, where does he play and who plays the other?

  11. Lille and Lyon are salivating at the next pepe deal. Just get a top 4 class player. Zichenko can play! Not over 35m, too old.

  12. One thing to note is that he’s very unlikely to want to join to be a backup left back, or even a full time left back. I don’t think he’d be leaving City if that were the case

      1. Agree. Sad but real.
        But at Arsenal he will get a decent chance. Tierney is as fragile as Barbie doll.

  13. @Can Fan
    Barbie ain’t fragile. She’s been around since the 50’s and still goin strong…IJS

  14. This would be a very smart signing, if we manage it over the line.

    Zinchenko to Arsenal would be a solid addition to the team, the playing out from right across the back line will improve.

  15. BBC is reasonably accurate on transfers (although on not much else these days)…

    They’re reporting that MU paid £57m for Martinez. That seems to be about 20 million reasons to leave him to them. Their record on transfers recently has been about as bad as it gets, from at least around the time Sanchez went there.

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