Alan Hutton believes Mikel Arteta and Gabriel Jesus played important roles in influencing Oleksandr Zinchenko to join Arsenal from Manchester City.
The Ukrainian has become the Gunners’ latest signing, but it was a surprise that he left a club like City to move to Arsenal.
With the Citizens, he is guaranteed to win more trophies even if he doesn’t play very often.
However, at Arsenal, he will not even play in the Champions League, and the Gunners are a few years behind in terms of being capable of winning titles.
Former Aston Villa man, Hutton believes speaking with Arteta and Jesus made him decide to take the risk.
He tells Football Insider: “Obviously Arteta was at Man City so they know each other anyway.
“Jesus and him have probably been in contact, asking what pre-season is like, what the manager is like, what training is like, what the team’s objectives are for next season, things that you want to know before you sign for the club.
“It’s massive, and always good knowing the manager so you can have a good conversation before you sign and he can layout the plans for you.“
Just Arsenal Opinion
At Arsenal, Zinchenko might not win trophies immediately, but he will certainly enjoy time on the pitch.
He would get regular game time, and his versatility will make it hard to drop him to the bench.
Hopefully, his experience at City will help him inspire Arsenal to win some trophies.
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It was/is plainly obvious why this transfer came about. Zinchenko will get more playing time and more money for starters. From our point of view, he is an upgrade on xhaka but will only play midfield when mainly xhaka, or partey is injured, while Tierney is playing. When Tierney is out he will be left back (which is what xhaka was doing badly) he will play over xhaka when all are fit but will cover areas when not. He is more versatile than xhaka and Tierney, so it is great planning. It remains to be seen if it is ambitious and/or works out. He is a good player, not a great player, his attitude is great but wether it is an improvement, that will only be seen when the season starts. He is coming from a team and a system that is better and he slotted in, now he will be one of the main cogs, a bit different.
Is he an improvement on xhaxa, yes I think so. I agree with everything you have said there. Because he’s an improvement on xhaxa I think we can say he’s an improvement all round. Not to mention the tempo city play at is much higher, now having two players with this mentality should help our young team transition much quicker!