English Premier League giants Arsenal have reportedly commenced discussion with league champions Manchester City over a deal for their defender Oleksandr Zinchenko.
The 25-year-old has made it clear that he is ready to leave the club and has had enquires from Everton West Ham and Chelsea. However, Man City are ready to let him go but for a fee of around £35m.
Manchester City are already pushing to secure the services of Brighton left-back Marc Cucurella and also wants to sign a new center-back before letting Nathan Ake join Chelsea on a £45 million deal.
The Manchester club has shown interest in Sevilla’s Jules Kounde and Pau Torres of Villarreal as options for the center-back position.
On the other hand, Arsenal have already missed out on the signing of Ajax defender Lisandro Martinez after he decided to reunite with Erik ten Hag at Manchester United. The Gunners have also reached out to Sergio Gomez of Anderlecht in case Oleksandr Zinchenko decides not to join them.
But they strongly believe that he will join them as Man City are ready to sell him. Mikel Arteta, the manager of Arsenal, worked with Zinchenko while he was Pep Guardiola’s assistant at city, and that relationship might be crucial in any negotiations.
He would follow in the footsteps of arsenal’s recruitment of Gabriel Jesus earlier in the summer transfer window from Manchester City to the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal are interested in Manchester City’s Oleksandr Zinchenko and are expected to formally bid for the player. pic.twitter.com/bQ1cptfiKG
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) July 14, 2022
Zinchenko has been a member of City since they signed him in 2016 from the Russian team UFA. Before forcing his way into city’s first team setup, he spent time on loan at the Dutch team PSV Eindhoven.
He has 127 appearances for the current Premier League champions across all competitions. He has won four Premier League titles so far.
The Ukrainian star player has recently reacted to Russia’s invasion of his home country Ukraine. During an interview with Gary Lineker on BBC Sport in March, he said he would have joined the war if not that he has a daughter.
“Even when I drive the car from the training ground, I can just cry from nothing,’ the 25-year-old said. It’s everything in my head. Imagine the place where you were born, where you were growing up and there is just empty ground.”
Oleksandr Zinchenko claimed that he has up to one million pictures and videos of every city that the Russian army has destroyed in Ukraine.
According to the left-back, the things happening right now is a real war between the two countries and asked them to stop for the sake of other people’s lives and properties. He added that he has facts about what is going on and that the war has left a lot of people starving, sleeping underground, and in bunkers.
