(If for whatever reason this doesn’t happen, it is not my fault and I take no responsibility for it)
Arsenal missed out on Lisandro Martinez and that is fine, he decided to go and play with his former manager on a worse team in United for €57.37 million, which could rise to €67.37m through variables. From an Arsenal perspective, there is no reason we should have spent that much money on a CB who we it looks like we would have deployed at LB (even though he doesn’t play there for club or country, the only thing he has that resembles a LB is his preference of his left boot). We also missed out on Raphinha which I could give two shits about as he has publically and privately been twerking for Barca for months now, no need for Arsenal to cough up north of €60m for a guy who scored 11 league goals last year (Pépé got lambasted and called a bust for scoring 10 league goals the season before, makes you think). But no worry, looks like we got the LB we wanted, according to Fab, Arsenal and City have reached an agreement for Oleksandr Zinchecnko.
ZINCHENKO PROFILE: Zinchenko is a fine player. As someone who yearns for a player’s technical ability to be of the highest quality and also his high footballing IQ as much as Pep, it is definitely a positive sign for Arsenal to sign somebody like Zinchenko. As a converted attacking/center midfield to a left-back, you already know the technical ability of Zinchnko is there. We are not dealing with a Wan-Bissaka going forward.
Besides the passing ability of Zinchenko, he is an excellent dribbler of the football as well as he usually always looks to cut inside of his defender upon receiving the ball which is crucial to any team that wants to be possession-oriented. As the fullbacks are most likely always open options for any team going forward, having a team that has fullbacks that can create offensively I.e. Liverpool and City is a must have and that is what Arsenal will get in Zinchenko. For example, next time you watch a soccer match, see what direction a fullbacks receive the ball in terms of their body and first touch. Look to see if they open their body up to move the ball forward with a positive touch or if they have a closed body and know already if they are playing the ball back. It is not as cut and dry as that but it is a decent indicator of how comfortable a fullback let alone any player is on the ball.
Besides the technical stability that Zinchenko provides at LB, he also is such a smart footballer and plays within his team’s system which is all Pep asks (Arteta too). He rarely ever puts himself or the team in defensively compromising positions either by diving into challenges or staying on his feet. What Pep admires and Arteta seems to love too is Zinchenko possessing a midfielder’s mind at the left back position.
This leaves me to Zinchenko’s weakness which is his one-on-one defending. All fullbacks will get cooked, and that is fine, the wingers nowadays are so fast and skillful which results in wingbacks getting beat every now and then. Because of his footballing acumen, playing in a possession-oriented team like City left him his opportunities on becoming isolated against wingers at a minimum but won’t be the case at Arsenal for obvious reasons.
Kent’s outlook on the signing: I kinda hate it. It’s not cause I don’t rate Zinchenko as a player. It’s that we are paying £30m for a player that didn’t start at City (worse than Gabi Jesus as he was a much more influential player at City than Zinchecnko) but also for a player who we are not sure is better than our own starting LB. Kieran Tierney is a very very good left back in its own right but the big issue with him is his injury concerns which is admirable that Arsenal are finding an alternative solution in Zinchenko. City must have been laughing at themselves when they saw the offer from Arsenal come in as they they know we have between Gabi Jesus and Zinchenko, funded their transfer window as they get a better LB in Cucurella in the next few weeks. FFS. City owe us man. Zinchenko also can’t be an idiot, why would he leave City as a backup to Cancelo to become a backup to Kieran Tierney. Makes no sense. Zinchenko’s history with Arteta probably has resulted in conversations with Zinchenko promised playing time that results in KT not playing.From an Arsenal perspective, when we have much much bigger holes to fill in our starting XI, it doesn’t make sense to put down that money for a guy who may or may not be better than the guy we have now. Hopefully, Arsenal know what they are doing but I have a bad feeling about this one.
GIF credits: Mega Football, Fiko Football
One thought on “Man City owe Arsenal for funding their transfer window, Zinchenko coming to North London”