Zinchenko, a £30m Investment That Will Strengthen Two Positions in One Go

TotalArsenal

When both Granit Xhaka and Tierney are fit we have a very strong left side, but with the former turning 30 in a few months time and the latter so injury prone, we really could do with a quality left-footed player who can play in both positions without any problem. So who could this be?

Yes our imminent new signing, Oleksandr Volodymyrovych Zinchenko, seems to be the right player for Arsenal and he would add a lot of strength and options to the team. He is the typical kind of player who can be in that all important 12-18 player group and put pressure on the first-11 team constantly. Soares, Elneny, Leno/Turner, Holding, ESR are also such players. A team that will play around 50 games a season simply needs such a ‘first-reserves’ team. I doubt that Zinchenko will join us on that basis but with Tierney and Xhaka needing regular rest/replacements due to injury, I would imagine Arteta is able to offer him plenty of first team exposure. Furthermore, Oleksandr – there are all the letters of the alphabet which are also in ‘Arsenal’ in that first name, and who can say that?! – is not one of those demanding types but will work hard to claim his place. And although I am a huge fan of both Kieran and Granit, they can both be displaced if Oleksandr takes on the challenge to become a first-11 player. Anyway, there will plenty of games in the the cup competions too so everyone will get enough games under their belt.

Zinchenko has a great ability to remain calm in tight spaces and find the right solution; he can also dribble through the lines and in the modern game these two qualities are simply crucial. He is left footed and we need more of those in our team, and he is a fighter too with an eye for a final pass, so what is not to like?! At a reportedly £30m investment I reckon he will help significantly in moving us to the next stage.

The last two seasons Zinchenko averaged 30 club games, with about half of them in the League. This tells us that Guardiola used him mostly as a squad player who he regarded as a safe pair of hands. Oleksandr will want more now and Arteta must have promised him this. Of course, Mikel knows him well and their will be mutual belief that the Basque can get the very best out of the Ukranian now that he is reaching the best five years of his career. At times it may have looked like Arteta is not good at managing egos/people but I guess this can put to bed forever now. There is no doubt a steeliness about Arteta and those who mess with him will end up leaving the club, but those who are willing to work hard and buy into his vision will get all the support by him. That is the only way to establish a culture change and when the likes of Eddie, the Ode, Jesus etc decide to commit to the club we all know that he is capable of building excellent working relationships and offer a bright future for them and the club.

Zinchenko is of course not yet a Gunner so we have to remain patient. The signs are good though and if the club can add another CF before the closing of the TW we can truly say Arteta has a team to push for third place and a maybe a cup too. OOH TO BE!

By TotalArsenal.

57 thoughts on “Zinchenko, a £30m Investment That Will Strengthen Two Positions in One Go”

  • As ever, I like your optimism. Is it only me that thinks we need a strong enforcer in midfield? I think that’s still lacking.

  • He will be out new Flamini. Comfortable in multiple positions and a great addition to this squad. He also comes with prem experience, a winning mentality and has already worked with both arteta and Jesus.
    He is exactly the sort of player we need.

  • Kev, to your question re Saliba from the last thread.
    I checked the last 20 Ligue 1 fixtures he played, and 19 of them it was a back 4 (he played 18 RCB and 1 LCB, but all central). The only game Marseilles opted a back 3 was against Stade Brestois 29 at home, and they managed to lose that one. It vos Mavropanos with the extensive back 3 experience, not William.

  • Hi all. Total has given me permission for the below…
    I purchased two tickets for the Arsenal Fulham game on Saturday August 27th via P1 Travel. (An Arsenal authorised agency for overseas supporters). They cost 150 euro’s each. My friend in London also purchased tickets for the match with the plan of taking me, so I need to move my tickets on.
    The tickets are not personalized and may be used by anybody, are at club level seating, and include free entrance to the Arsenal museum and a free tour of the ground. I would be happy to take a loss on them if any BK’ers are keen. 
    If you are interested, please contact me via my e mail: stuangus@xtra.co.nz

  • Kev, PB, I’d have said Bill had played much more often in a back-3, but I trust pb’s stat-checking completely, and Sampaoli’s setups were hardly readable to me most of the time tbh
    Lately, Deschamps has been testing a back-3 too, and Saliba was used as a RCB …
    Kev mentioned his goalscoring ability – he should do much better on that front too, but he’s not the only one, White drew a blank last season, and Rob scored his first at long, long last.
    I’m probably old-fashioned, but I think for a CB to score (which almost always happens on set pieces), that’s hunger he needs, and I find our current CBs too nice, well-behaved, harmless in the opponents’ box

  • Agreed, Le Gall.
    Mertesacker or Koscielny didn’t score too often either, but they were always memorable.

  • Goals, also from set pieces, are a team responsibility. It’s a case of creating chances and taking them. I think our set pieces were really threatening and our CBs did a great job at it.

  • I agree T A a very good buy in my opinion. Hopefully both he and Jesus will blossom away from the heavy City squad.

    I see our noisy neighbours have been at it again in the transfer market.. seem to be swapping punches with them at the moment in the transfer
    Market. Unless I am mistaken both Kulushevski and Romero are on loan.,,those two will cost a few Bob .

  • If anyone wants to see Edu playing for arsenal j, the 2002 match at Old Trafford is on sky now. Unbelievable what animals Phillip Neville and Scholes are.

  • Retsub, yeah Spuds are desperate to stay ahead of us. Their manager just about agreed to stay for now but he is not going to stay long, I reckon. They don’t seem to have a plan for tge future and it’s a matter of time before we leapfrog them again.

  • I do wonder if Zincheko will become a starter. I can see him starting the season at left back, this will give Tierney plenty of time to get fully fit. Once fit Tierney back in at left back. Then it will be time for Zinchenko to start to play in the position he really wants to become a main player, A left sided midfielder. I watched City’s last game of the season and Zinchenko really does look comfortable with the ball at his feet. What a bargain at 30million. We should be really happy at the moment, our incomings are quality players.

  • “They don’t seem to have a plan….”

    Total, I kinda think that most of the teams in and around us fall into that category when you analyse the business they’ve done this summer, that’s namely Man Utd, Tottenham and Chelsea, it’s left me happily scratching my head. Liverpool and Man City have refreshed and reinforced their squads and Arsenal definitely seem to working towards a plan of gradual improvement across our squad but the rest gives one the impression of bidding for the flavour of the week regardless of whether that flavour is what they need rather than a need to show their fans that they’re active in the market.

    I actually think that the business done by Edu and Arteta starting a year ago has kind of shown up the paucity of ideas among our rivals and makes us look odds on for the top three…

  • I agree Kev, taking the time for a culture change and building a team bottom upwards is what makes us stand out. It takes patience and thanks what is what the others are missing.

  • Kev, while I fully agree on MU and Chelsea, I honestly think – and slightly worry – that Tottenham is (are?) doing exceptionally well in recent transfer windows. They are not merely splashing the cash brainlessly like in the good old days, but making targeted smart signings. Instead of participating in bidding wars and needless high profile signings they go for ambitious and/or underappreciated players with drive, and they make really efficient loan deals. I hope Perisic and Lenglet will have serious difficulties adapting to the PL, and that CL will wear them out, because this summer didn’t make them weaker. While MU and Chelsea just started to decline, Spurs are on the rise I’m afraid.

  • Can’t agree PB. Spurs are on their last legs, and I think Bissouma and Richarlison are trash.

    If Arsenal had got into the top 4 and signed the players Tottenham just bought, I would be totally disgusted.

    T,
    The letters to Arsenal in Zins name? Who else would notice that?!

    Kev, I also think United will struggle with the bloated squad and disappointing new imports under Ten Hag.

    Chelsea will be loaning players out and or taking losses too. I expect them to be heading out of top 4 in the next couple years as American financial constraints come into play. It’s about time. Both United and Chelsea will be looking for an Arteta type culture reset at some point soon. We got the real one.

  • Zinchenko is an addition I am excited about, too and believe he will improve us, as has Jesus. He is surprisingly skillful and capable of the deft touch, here and there. As a left back though, he tends to take fewer risks than Tierney would and would seek safety first (not a bad thing in a game that needs patience) when his path forward is blocked. Having said all that, I am happy to have him and proud he chose us.

    To make up TA’s requirement of “3 more players” then, I’d think Tielemans or Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (CM) and one central defender (assuming Zinchenko is done this week). We are linked with two, so far; Edmond Tapsoba, being the strongest linked. There’s also talk about Lucas Paqueta and Arthur, as well. All of these are good players who will increase the competitiveness of the team.

  • Ah, well I just can’t help fearing that Spurs look like they can get some short term success, just to boost Conte’s ego and keep Levy happy; right before Conte leaves for a big club. Maybe, that’s just me not wanting them to do better than us, ever again!

    LEGALL (I believe) did mention a Danish striker who bullied Saliba in Denmark’s win over France; that would be Andreas Cornelius. Some have alluded to Saliba’s pace on this thread, but I daresay, pace isn’t one of his strong points. I can think of a fair few premier league forwards who would have him on toast, every time, in a foot race. The qualities I admire in him include his passing from the back, calmness under pressure, determination in duels and ability to read the game. We can use a defender with such a skill set.

  • Peter, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so I guess we’ll soon find out one way or another and not after 3 or 5 matches but by the halfway point of the season, if Arsenal go into the World Cup break in the top four and still comfortably in the League and Europa Cups then I won’t be surprised, if Tottenham are in a similar situation then it’ll make for a very competitive second half of the season.

    By the halfway point I’d also expect to have seen Marcelo Flores make his debut in the cups and be a sensation, I’ll also expect to have seen Charlie Patino make some more senior strides in both cups and EPL, maybe Walters will have a few 1st team appearances under his belt and Salah Eddine, despite the doom and gloom on certain youth blogs, you see I don’t go in for all that old baloney about Arteta not liking certain players or not trusting youth, but then that’s just me, Mr Optimistic… 😁

  • J, I really hope you are right.
    However I remember many fans demanding Bissouma. some expressed such desire on this very blog.
    See Kev, Eris and TA approving such signing here: https://bergkampesque.com/2021/05/24/a-beast-of-a-dm-and-am-and-three-more-arsenal-summer-wishes/
    Yes, I am sure that Jesus is superior to Richarlison, and also hope that Zinchenko would prove to be better than Perisic. But I’m less convinced about Marquinhos over Kusulevski, White over Romero, Lokonga over Bissouma. But we may sign a DM/CM and a RW to replace Pepe, so the comparison is not over yet.

    At least we dodged the Lisandro Martinez bullet.

  • Kev, I couldn’t agree more on the pudding. And also we are on the same page regarding the expected status and position by the World Cup break.

    We are in disagreement about Flores though. But not at all in a sense that I think the scenario you described wouldn’t be reasonable or even ideal. I just think it won’t be happening. In fact there is a good chance that Flores will not be playing in an Arsenal jersey from August. I really hope that it will happen as a loan deal, as he really needs an adult competition to be a contender for his place in the adult international team of Mexico. But it is also possible that he simply leaves in a similar fashion like Hutchinson. However if he stays, I don’t expect him to play enough in the cups to become a sensation. He’d be lucky even if playing at all. That should also apply to Patino, and probably to Walters, depending on the future of Bellerin and AMN.

    Just read that our twin brother Eris expects the signing of one from Tielemans/SMS and one from Arthur/Paqueta. That would move Partey and Xhaka to team B, Elneny and Vieira (assuming his main position would be CM) to team C, Lokonga and AMN/Torreira (whoever stays) to team D, making Azeez and Patino in team E. And we didn’t even discuss the possibility that Tierney plays for LB and Zinchenko finally gets his dream (and international) position of LCM.

    It seems I’m as if we are not having the same core values as I’m almost always contradicting your predictions. But it is not the case. I absolutely share your drive and desire to see the youngsters in action. But having a huge squad and giving opportunities to academy players are simply mutually exclusive. And the last couple of years showed where Arteta stands in that regards, when we didn’t even have a huge team…

  • Le Gall, try these links, but only if the game has started:
    https://time4tv.stream/livesports/channels.php?414
    (I cannot insert a second URL as the engine would identify me as a spamming bot, but replace the number with 124)
    Maybe they’ll work at your place, too.

    Kev, Flores is off to Oviedo. It doesn’t rule out that we could see Azeez and Walters, but still wouldn’t expect so.

  • Ramsdale
    Soares
    Tavares
    Holding
    Mari

    Elneny
    Niles
    Lokonga

    Pepe
    Eddie
    Martinelli

  • With Flores’ contract running out next summer I’d be very surprised if he’s been allowed to go on loan without extending his contract, but who knows?

  • As for Azeez, I have a feeling that he isn’t going to make it at Arsenal if I’m honest Peter, last season at Portsmouth was his chance but for some reason it didn’t happen for him.

  • The game is been “delayed owing to inclement weather”. Well, that gives me an excuse to get some needed good night’s sleep.😴

    PB, it will be nice to get all of those players in; we will have the squad that’s deepest in quality in all of Europe 😀. Of course, I am only predicting we should still bring in any two from that number.

  • 1-0, one two between Lokonga and Martinelli, Martinelli shot takes deflection and wrong foots goalkeeper. Good start, Holding already booked, harsh decision by American referee.

  • Orlando having some possession, foul on Tavares and yellow card to Orlando player after stopping Arsenal break. Keep on losing picture, still got commentary but getting on my nerves. (15mins)

  • Long ball into Arsenal half to Orlando goalscorer, looked odds on but Tavares gets in and does a great clearing job. 38 (mins)

    Pato is making some nice long passes that are turning the Arsenal defence which isn’t the quickest on the turn. (41mins)

  • Just got a stream again (56 mins)

    Jesus, Odegaard, White, came on at half time, nice spin and turn from Nketiah onto Odegaard pass, shot saved and now corner.
    Partey, Xhaka, Saka and Saliba coming on (58 mins)

  • Turner and Gabriel must have come on at half time. Saka run and foul, Orlando player booked.
    Jesus clumsily fouled, free kick, here comes Partey, on target but saved comfortably. (64 mins)

    Jesus almost in on goal and it’s runs to Eddie, 2-1 (65 mins)

  • Lost stream, got another, up yours YouTube, some heavy challenges on Jesus, Nelson on for Eddie, drinks break. (73 mins)

  • Orlando are putting in some heavy challenges, this is a tough game, Orlando are a tough team and they can play…

    Jesus almost in on goal again and then Saka almost in on goal.

    Lost stream found another and Arsenal are 3-1 up now. (81 mins)

  • Pb,

    Just keep in mind when you compare our recent signings vs Spuds..
    They got the all-important champions league spot, and used that advantage to pursue and buy Richarlison (garbage), Bissouma, who no big club wanted even at a discounted price.. United didn’t even rate him enough…, and they start McTominay regularly Lol. Why compare Lokonga to Bissouma anyway? .. Lokonga may be our 3rd choice at DM. Partey is miles better than Bissouma, and Elneny under Arteta is a better passer.

    33 year old Perisic…. bright future along with 30 year old Son and marble mouth Kane. They got Spence, we have Brooke Norton-Cuffy.

    With no champions league… look at our business in comparison..

    Hopefully with one more good player to come. We’re all forgetting about Fabio Vieira, who Liverpool wanted so much that they asked for right of first refusal…. we played it perfectly because pool just dropped 2 big chunks of cash on Diaz and the Nunes, so they had to pass on him at that moment. Brilliant business to take advantage of that.

    Levys bargain bin shopping always fails him in the end.

  • Bellerin on for Tavares, Reiss Nelson got the 3rd, Odegaard to Saka and a neat crossed pass and Nelson sweeps it home.

    This has been a good test for our players.

    Zinchenko is in the crowd sitting next to Edu….

    Arsenal have pretty much pinned Orlando into their half for most of this 2nd half but the Americans hav3 defended well. (88 mins)

  • I’ve had to watch some pretty blurred streams Johnno but it’s been a good game.

    I wish our players would take a few shots instead of trying to walk it in…

    Orlando like a foul, another yellow card for kick on Nelson, Nelson takes it and almost scores.

    Full time 3-1.

    Jesus, Saka, Odegaard all made a big difference.

  • Johnno ‘marble mouth’ Kane, I did laugh mate… 😆

    Also, some great points when comparing the business we’ve done against the Champions League Spuds and the extra money available to them…

    Imagine what extra we may have done if we’d finished top four?

  • Thanks for the comments Kev, you night owl 🦉! 😁

    Sounds like a good work out for the boys indeed. Will watch the highlights later.

  • Spuds, like headless skinny chickens, are all over the place, J. I just love the thought of new Spuds singings being given a stadium tour and then asking ‘but where is the trophy cabinet’? 😅

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