The list of young players Arsène Wenger has missed out on despite really wanting them is quite impressive.
You’ve got the Dimitri Payets and the Kylian Mbappés, but you’ve also got Oleksandr Zinchenko, currently at Manchester City after transferring there from Ufa towards the end of August 2016 for just under £2m.
This information comes from Sandor Varga, an agent close to the Arsenal manager, who spoke to Sport-Express on Wednesday about a variety of topics, including Wenger’s missed attempt to bring in the Ukraine international.
He said: “When Zinchenko was 17, Arsène called me and asked me about him. Shakhtar beat Arsenal in the UEFA Youth League, Wenger saw 20 minutes of him and said ‘I need this guy’.
“He asked me to transfer Zinchenko, and wanted him for the first-team straight away, not the reserves, but certain circumstances interfered. There was a lot of talk regarding his move from Donetsk to Russia. It’s a shame. He lost five years of his career before moving to the Premier League.”
Zinchenko, since his arrival at Manchester City a year and a half ago, spent last season on loan at PSV Eindhoven, and came close to being transferred temporarily to Napoli last summer.
However, with that move never happening, the 21-year-old is now playing second fiddle to Fabian Delph at left-back, starting the last two games there.
