Benjamin Mendy has struggled with injuries since swapping AS Monaco for Manchester City in 2017 and until the end of last year, Pep Guardiola relied on Fabian Delph to fill in for the Frenchman in the left-back position.
Delph’s suspension at the end of last year forced the former Barcelona manager to field Oleksandr Zinchenko in the left side of the defence.
The Ukraine international went on to impress and has now cemented his place as the first choice left-back under Guardiola. He’s made 16 starts in the league in 2019 so far.
Zinchenko’s impressive displays in the second half of the last season saw him being rewarded with a new contract in the summer.
The 22-year-old moved to the Etihad in 2016 and things weren’t easy for him in the first few years. Napoli looked at the player, but his agent Alan Prudnikov is delighted his client decided to continue with City.
“Zinchenko in the past near Napoli? In hindsight, we can say that staying in Manchester City was the right choice,” Prudnikov told Radio Marte, as relayed by CalcioNapoli24.
“We are grateful to Guardiola for the chance he gave the boy to develop and play. Zinchenko renewed last summer with City and is focused on the English club, he wants to win many trophies.
“With Guardiola he plays at fullback, but he can do at least four roles and today he is focused on City, but in football never say never.
“One day it would be nice to beat Ronaldo also in Serie A, but it is necessary that Cristiano does not retire also because at the moment Zinchenko’s future is at City.”
