Oleksandr Zinchenko is perhaps the most polarizing player at Arsenal and has found himself at the decision point for most players with two years left on his contract that he signed when he joined from Manchester City.
His significance and role at the club this season have fluctuated, reflecting a rollercoaster of shifts in standing within Mikel Arteta's plans for the team. Does this suggest a forecast of future developments, or does it indicate that, despite a desire to depart, there is still an acknowledgment of his unique contributions to the team?
Much digital ink has been spilled and numerous online debates have ensued over Arsenal's distinctive left back, with both sides firmly entrenched in their views. However, this post will take an objective look at the potential future of this player at Arsenal.
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Adam: This is one of the tougher exit interviews for me, and not just because of my personal feelings.
While there’s certainly a portion of the fan base who’s turned on Zinchenko, blaming him for both things that are and are not his fault specifically, such as circulating a freeze frame with him in right-back territory and omitting the fact that it occurred while defending a set piece, and that treatment toward any player does tend to harden my defense of them. But, the Ukrainian’s role also did diminish over the course of the season, with Jakub Kiwior and Takehiro Tomiyasu each filling in mostly well when called upon.
By my count Arsenal won 16 of Zinchenko’s 25 starts in all competitions, with five losses and four draws. He started both losses to each of Aston Villa and West Ham, as well as the away CL loss to RC Lens. Was it his fault that Arsenal dropped points there? While he had his lapses, I’d say no. At least of couple of those were far and away Arsenal winning games, in fact.
Wherever he goes, defensive purists will continue to hate the fact that Zinchenko’s primary position is left back. He’s not what you’d call a lockdown defender, although I thought his defending was better this campaign, particularly earlier in the season.
And while he appeared to be phased out by Arteta toward the end, which admittedly could’ve been nothing more than a manager playing the hot hand, I did feel Oleks changed more than one game as a sub.
Left back might be one of the bigger mysteries going into next season. Will it be Zinchenko by August? Tomiyasu? Kiwior? Timber? Someone else entirely? I am at least pretty sure that even if he joins, it won’t be Jorrel Hato.
Adam’s Verdict: The earliest part of the transfer window has some of the toughest-to-gauge buzz, and as of now Zinchenko is being linked to his former teammate Vincent Kompany’s new Bayern project. With his £190k wages and given his age and experience, it’s going to take a club on that level to wrest away Zinchenko, who fees trapped in a liminal space between surplus and essential. I’d play this exactly the way Arsenal did Thomas Partey last summer, listening only to what Fabrizio Romano would call “important offers.” For me, that starts at £25m, though I’d prefer £30m. Otherwise, I keep the player, whose
social media posting seems to point toward a return and an attempt at a better outcome.
Scott: Much digital ink has been spilled on Zinchenko already by me and others. The battle lines are drawn, the minds made up.
The main disagreement comes down to how much positive does he had with his passing and overall ball progressing compared to how much does the team lose with his defensive lapses.
I fall much more on the former on this. His unique passing ability to give a team basically what a deep lying playmaker offers while still being passable as a fullback is pretty special. The defensive story I think is also overblown and not backed up by the numbers. I went through this in more detail back in March at the height of the Zinchenko wars.
Among Premier League players with at least 10 90’s played, no one completed more progressive passes than Zinchenko.
That is pretty crazy but when you look at the number 3 and number 4 players on the list you can also see that Arsenal are not without ball progressors in their team. Arsenal did generally have more while he was on the field than we he wasn’t but it was not so much as to be a major determent to the team.
It does seem that as long as one of Zinchenko, Jorginho, or Thomas Partey was available to help move the ball it was almost a matter of just who would get the credit for them rather than the team would go without being able to do it.
I think this is one of the key things that Arsenal is building towards, there are less keystone players where when you take them out, everything else falls apart. Some have described it as evolving away from certain players but I think of it more as adding resiliency to the squad.
I like and appreciate Zincehnko a lot but given his injury track record it makes little sense to build a team that is dependent on his skill set to be able to function at the required level. It is nice to have that and to be able to change the questions being asked of the opposition team on our terms and to be able to be flexible.
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