Fabrizio Romano has shared an update on Arsenal‘s transfer plans amid concerns surrounding left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko lately.
Zinchenko tipped for more advanced role amid Arsenal criticism
The 27-year-old has come under fire for some of his performances in the final run-in of this season.
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The Gunners’ transfer plans are in full swing.
Arsenal have relinquished control of the Premier League title race, with Mikel Arteta now relying on a Man City slip up and perfect league form if they’re to clinch their first domestic crown in 20 years.
Their 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa last weekend, followed by crashing out of the Champions League in midweek courtesy of Bayern Munich, has left supporters drained after what has been a pretty torrid last five days in north London.
Every member of Arteta’s squad will need to be firing on all cylinders if there is any hope of clinching a major piece of silverware, and Zinchenko is drawing some criticism. The Ukraine international has started 20 league games this season, making a further five appearances off the bench, with journalist Charles Watts suggesting he could be deployed in a more advanced role.
“Some of the criticism (of Zinchenko) is justified, but some is a bit harsh in my opinion,” said Watts to CaughtOffside this week..
“When you look at what went wrong for Arsenal on Sunday for example, I’m not really sure Zinchenko was at the heart of it. But, judging by the amount of criticism that has come his way over the past few days, you would think he was. Yes, there were a few errors of judgement in the second half, one of which could easily have been very costly. But there were also good points in the first half which could easily have led to Arsenal opening the scoring.
|
Zinchenko’s worst league games for Arsenal this season (at least 45 minutes played) |
Match Rating (via WhoScored) |
|---|---|
|
Chelsea 2-2 Arsenal |
5.60 |
|
Arsenal 0-2 West Ham |
6.20 |
|
Arsenal 3-1 Man United |
6.22 |
|
Arsenal 0-2 Aston Villa |
6.25 |
|
Arsenal 3-1 Liverpool |
6.31 |
“And that’s always been the thing with Zinchenko – there are undeniable positives, but there are also obvious negatives. The thing is that right now, probably for the first time since he joined, the negatives are starting to outweigh the positives. I still think he could have a key role to play in this squad, potentially even higher up the pitch where his defensive deficiencies could leave the team less exposed.”
Fabrizio Romano says Arsenal have discussed signing new left-back
Speaking to GiveMeSport, reliable journalist Romano has now said Arsenal have discussed signing a new left-back amid Zinchenko’s form.
“It’s a possibility,” said Romano.
“It’s not guaranteed yet because, from what I’m hearing, Arsenal are still waiting to understand what they want to do at the end of the season. They want to see what happens in the Premier League to decide what they want to do regarding investments in different positions, but left-back could be one of the positions to cover. This is something they have discussed internally. So, at the moment, we don’t have names yet because they don’t have a proper decision on who the player they want to sign is. But bringing in a new left-back in the summer transfer window is possible.”
