Oleksandr Zinchenko has hailed Gabriel Martinelli as a “real diamond” and has backed his team-mate to continue his blistering start to the season.
Martinelli has scored in both of Arsenal’s opening games, with his latest strike coming in the 4-2 win over Leicester on Saturday. The winger has struck up a strong relationship with fellow Brazilian Gabriel Jesus, who also excelled against the Foxes, scoring twice and laying on two assists.
Zinchenko is well aware of Jesus’ ability having played with him at Manchester City and moved with him to Arsenal this summer, but he has been blown away by Martinelli.
“He is incredible, he is a real diamond,” Zinchenko told Standard Sport. “I would say exactly the same things about him that I say about Gabriel Jesus.
“The way these two guys are working — how everyone is working really — every single day is unbelievable. He (Martinelli) has got amazing quality and he’s still young. I am pretty sure he has an unbelievable future.”
Arsenal look transformed going forward, and a lot of that is down to Jesus, who since joining for £45million has looked reborn.
“I never had any doubts about him, because he’s a world-class player in terms of his numbers,” said Zinchenko.
“You can see it as well in how he works along with his attitude every day in training. He’s an example. He’s an incredible player, always hungry for goals. He doesn’t stop at all and I’m so happy for him.”
Zinchenko has also made a fine start to life at Arsenal, starting both of the Gunners’ games at left-back.
The Ukraine international has been picked ahead of Kieran Tierney, who is working his way back to full fitness after a serious knee injury last season.
Zinchenko, who can also operate in midfield, is excited to compete with Tierney for minutes and is convinced it will drive him on to improve.
“He is an amazing player. Even when I was at City I was watching his games,” said Zinchenko. “I think it is good competition for each of us.
“We are going to push each other, and I think that’s the key. That’s how we need to move on. The most important thing is both of us want to try and help the team as much as we can.”
Arsenal controlled a lot of the game against Leicester, with Granit Xhaka also getting on the scoresheet, but Zinchenko believes they can still improve after William Saliba scored an own-goal and James Maddison found the net, too, for the visitors.
“It was important to get the win, but we need to improve a couple of things,” Zinchenko said. “It’s just the beginning of the season and I think we need to analyse.”
