Arsenal is negotiating with Manchester City to include an "important player"
Arsenal have entered negotiations with local rival Manchester City, the English Premier League champions, in order to obtain the services of Ukrainian international full-back Oleksandr Zinchenko, according to what the sports website "The Athletic" reported Thursday.
After receiving from Spanish coach Josep Guardiola's team the services of Brazilian striker Gabriel Jesus, Arsenal seeks to compensate for its failure to include Argentine defender Lisandro Martins, who is close to signing his transfer from Ajax to Manchester United, by including Zinchenko.
The Athletic website reported that Arsenal and City are negotiating the transfer of the 25-year-old to the Gunners, although he is still linked to the Premier League champions in the past two seasons until 2024.
Arsenal's other Spanish coach, Mikel Arteta, is a big fan of Zinchenko, especially as he worked with him when he was the first assistant to his compatriot Guardiola at City.
Zinchenko arrived at the Etihad Stadium in 2016 from Russia's FC Ufa, and contributed to leading the team to the Premier League title four times in the last five seasons, in addition to winning the English Cup once and the League Cup four times, and his arrival with the "Citizens" to The Champions League final in 2021, for the first time in the club's history.
In addition to the inclusion of Gabriel Jesus, Arsenal also strengthened its ranks with Portuguese attacking midfielder Fabio Vieira from Benfica, Brazilian full-back Marquinhos from Sao Paulo, and American goalkeeper Matt Turner from New England, while French defender William Saliba and Spanish back Hector Bellerin returned to him after the end of the period. They loaned them to Marseille and Real Betis, respectively.
Arsenal finished last season in fifth place, two points behind the last fourth qualifier for the Champions League, and will therefore participate in the European League "Europa League" next season.
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