Former Arsenal defender William Gallas has slammed Oleksandr Zinchenko as a defensive liability as the Gunners edge closer to completing the signing of Bologna star Riccardo Calafiori.
The Italy international has had his medical with Arsenal (as per Fabrizio Romano’s post here) and is now set to travel to the US to join Mikel Arteta’s side for their pre-season tour, and it will be interesting to see what his arrival means for Zinchenko in particular.
Arteta raided his former club Manchester City to sign Zinchenko in the summer of 2022, but it’s fair to say the Ukraine international slowly fell out of favour at the Emirates Stadium last season.
Calafiori’s imminent arrival surely means he will now be Arsenal’s first choice at left-back, and it seems Gallas isn’t too surprised to see his old club come to this decision.
Calafiori transfer surely spells the end for Zinchenko at Arsenal
Although Gallas is a fan of what Zinchenko offers on the ball, he admits that it was clear at Man City that he didn’t have Pep Guardiola’s trust for the biggest games due to not being quite good enough defensively.
In the past, full-backs could make up for that with their attacking qualities, but Gallas feels Arsenal’s football has now evolved and Calafiori perhaps looks the better fit for Arteta’s current style of play.
“I think Zinchenko had similar problems when he was at Manchester City. If you can remember, I don’t think that he played in that many of their big games because Pep Guardiola thought that his defensive ability was limited,” Gallas told Gambling Zone, as quoted by the Metro.
“With the ball and in possession, he’s a talented player. He is good on the counter attack, but when you ask him to defend and when you put him under pressure, he makes mistakes. He has made a lot of mistakes at Arsenal which is why they are looking to improve their defence.
“I think Arsenal’s football has moved on from what Zinchenko offers them. Football is a game that constantly evolves, and it is changing again at the moment in terms of how the best teams try and defend.
‘Over the last few years, we’ve seen teams ask their left backs and right backs to go into midfield and build play from the back. We’ve seen back fours become back threes with the ball – a defenders role…
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