Oleksandr Zinchenko is ready to face his former club. The Arsenal’s left-sided player was injured recently but is now in contention for the Champions League game against Shakhtar and could replace Riccardo Calafiori who is in great form. It would give the Ukrainian international a chance to face his former club, with whom he didn’t make a great career. After playing there as a youngster, he soon realized that there were a lot of other players in front of him like Fernandinho, Willian, Douglas Costa and Alex Teixeira and decided to sign for Russian UFA in 2015 before getting a shocking deal with Manchester City just a year after. He came as a youngster and was playing on the academy contract when Pep Guardiola came as a coach.🤯📸 Hector Bellerin and Oleksandr Zinchenko competing against eachother when Arsenal faced Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Youth League in 2014. The Gunners came out with a 3-1 victory with current Bayern Munich player, Serge Gnabry, scoring. 😳Small world, eh… 😅 pic.twitter.com/C2i0cGWZBu— DailyAFC (@DailyAFC) October 22, 2024 He tried to negotiate a proper deal and that’s where he first find out the business side of football.“Look, this is an academy player contract, right? As soon as you make your first official game for City, we’re going to extend your contract with the real money that we pay full professionals. Not this academy player deal. So trust us.’ Of course I said yes. Follow the dream. But do you know when my next contract came? The one that put me on full professional money? After I had played 43 games in the Premier League! I won two Premier League titles playing on an academy contract” he wrote in his book which is about to come out soon.Zinchenko testing Arteta’s patience, no contract in sightThe autobiography also contains some interesting stories from his time with both Manchester City and Arsenal, and among them is an episode with Pep Guardiola who criticized his passing at the training session“Out loud I said: ‘Mister! Like, I just did one wrong pass, you know?’ And his reaction was incredible”. “‘Oh, okay, sorry, sorry, Mr Zinchenko. Sorry,’ said Pep. ‘Okay, guys, thank you, everyone inside.’ And he went in, walked to the changing room. Training over, all because I talked back. I knew I was in trouble. First of all, I was not right. I understood straight away, but it would have been silly if I went right to his office and apologised. It was game day minus one and I knew his head was totally on the gameplan. But I did apologise after the game” he wrote.Unexpected names on Kompany’s wishlist – a Premier League veteran and a rookie eachOff course, the Spaniard soon forgave him and even gave him a surprise call on the night when City won the treble and he moved to Arsenal.“I can only imagine how much they celebrated after the game, and I guess no one was sleeping that night, but to get a call from Pep? I couldn’t believe it. He said: ‘Alex, you are a big part of this.’ I was fully surprised in a good way. I said to him, again, a massive thanks for everything he did for me. It shows how good-humoured he could be” he recalls.Arsenal’s Zinchenko claims he would go to war in Ukraine if called upA transfer to Arsenal a year prior to that City’s treble found him matched up again with his Manchester teammate Gabriel Jesus and both players had the same conclusion about their new club: immense talent but not so much belief.“I remember me and Gabi said: ‘Wow, the quality is unbelievable and the energy and desire to learn every day is there. The only piece missing is belief. That’s what I feel in the dressing room and on the pitch. That’s what I see from everyone now” he said.UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – ROUND 3Tuesday19:45: (1.45) AC Milan (4.40) Club Brugge (7.25)19:45: (1.40) Monaco (5.30) Crvena Zvezda (8.00)22:00: (1.10) Arsenal (11.0) Shakhtar (18.0)22:00: (1.62) Aston Villa (3.80) Bologna (5.80)22:00: (1.20) Girona (8.00) Slovan B. (14.0)22:00: (1.87) Juventus (3.50) Stuttgart (4.20)22:00: (1.45) PSG (4.50) PSV (7.00)22:00: (1.50) Real Madrid (4.40) Dortmund (6.50)22:00: (8.00) Sturm (4.70) Sporting (1.40)***odds are subject to change***
