Manchester City’s Oleksandr Zinchenko is edging closer to joining Arsenal in a move that will see him reunite him with Mikel Arteta.
The £30million deal will make the highly-rated Ukrainian the second City player to swap the Etihad for the Emirates after Gabriel Jesus made the same move earlier this summer.
Mikel Arteta is a huge admirer of the 25-year-old, with his ability to play a variety of positions including left-back and central midfield a hugely attractive trait for the Arsenal boss. It’s in the latter that he’ll be hoping to accumulate his most minutes though.
It’s a position he excels in at international level, and City manager Guardiola has previously gone on record to say it’s his best position. Speaking in April about Zinchenko’s best position, Guardiola said: "In the pockets as the attacking midfielder. That is his position, definitely. When we brought Oleks from Ukraine, he was a No.10 – a Phil Foden position, a creative player.”
Utilising Wyscout, Mirror football has access to 4772 minutes of data on Zinchenko playing in various midfield roles at both club and international level across recent seasons, and within the same as a profile he shows up well.
Looking at a basic level initially, he registered 11 goal contributions across that period. Interestingly though, he also boasts a solid pass success rate of 88.5 per cent from an average of over 61 passes per 90.
That’s impressive. For comparison, Arsenal’s current crop of midfielders averaged a pass success rate of 89.9 between them in the Premier League last season, however they averaged noticeably fewer passes between them at 50.5 per 90.
Crucially, those passes weren’t always short and safe, but instead, the 25-year-old showed a willingness to play more high-risk-high-reward balls when such opportunities presented themselves, which is perhaps why Guardiola was so keen to label him a ‘creative player’. In that time he averaged 1.41 passes that led directly to a shot on goal by a teammate.
Again for comparison at Arsenal only Martin Odegaard, who plays in a more advanced position than Zinchenko, could better that average in the Premier League last season.
While Zinchenko seems to show both composure and bravery in his possession play, his influence without the ball shouldn’t be underestimated either, he has after all played a large portion of his minutes as a defender during his time at the Etihad - the Ukranian’s defensive duel success rate averaged out 62.2 per cent from that sample of minutes in midfield.
Although Zinchenko will be hoping to feature most often through the middle, there may well be occasions when Arteta will look to turn to Zinchenko to still fulfil a role within his defence, especially given the issues he’s had as a left-back in recent seasons.
Kieran Tierney is of course the club’s first-choice left-back, though there are growing concerns about his ability to stay fit, having missed long periods in each of the last two campaigns due to injuries. Nuno Tavares was brought in to deputise for the Scotland international, however the underwhelming nature of his first full campaign at the club has cast doubt over his future.
Zinchenko has been hugely impressive playing within a left-back role at City, and did actually better Tierney in most departments last season, registering more assists, Expected assists (xA) per 90, passes completed into the penalty area per 90 and progressive runs made per 90.
There was a reduction in Zinchenko’s defensive duel success rate (48.8 per cent) when moved from midfield into left-back, though this will be as a consequence of playing for City and doing the bulk of his defending in transition when the defence is unsettled.
Although the Gunners mirror the tactical approach of City to a degree, it’s more than possible that duel success rate improves when defending more often in a settled defensive structure at Arsenal.
Even despite this, it seems likely based on what Zinchenko wants and what Arteta needs, which is more penetration and creativity from the middle, that Arsenal’s newest recruit is almost certain to feature most often through the middle. And based on the above, it’s easy to see why he has the potential to be a success in such a role at his new club.
