Friday, March 29, 2024

Insight: How good is imminent Arsenal signing Zinchenko & where he will play

Arsenal are set to complete a £30million deal for Manchester City’s Ukrainian midfielder/defender, Oleksandr Zinchenko. That is according to several sources on Monday evening, first revealed by The Athletic.

David Ornstein of The Athletic has reported that Arsenal have agreed wages with Zinchenko and a £30million plus the potential of £2million in add ons fee with Manchester City.

Watch: How Zinchenko will improve Arsenal below

Zinchenko has played nearly all his minutes for Manchester City as a left-back, but for Ukraine he’s played almost exclusively in midfield. His technical quality allows for him to play in such a range of positions and still perform to a high level. In the video above we look at where he is likely to slot in for Arsenal and whether he’d serve as an improvement on the current options in those positions.

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Aged just 25, like Jesus, Arteta is signing a player still on the right side of his prime years, but one who has significant top-level experience and a winning mentality. Zinchenko is also his countries captain, racking up 52 caps already for the senior side.

My personal opinion is that Zinchenko is most likely to play as a left-back predominantly for Arsenal, but he will tuck into the interior of the build up phase and vacate some similar positions that Granit Xhaka has in the left central midfield role. This should allow for Arsenal’s left central midfielder, Xhaka, Smith Rowe or perhaps a new signing, to push further up the field and focus on making the difference in the final third.

This tweak in shape from Arsenal will help Mikel Arteta play more dominant football and form the 433 shape that he has appeared to want to play with in recent months.

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