Pep Guardiola claimed to be sad that Oleksandr Zinchenko left Manchester City to join Arsenal this summer, insisting to the Manchester Evening News that he wanted to keep the 25-year-old, but his treatment of Zinchenko last season suggested otherwise.
Where will Manchester City finish in the Premier League this season?
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th or lower
The Ukrainian international played in more Premier League matches (20) in 2020/21 than in any other season at City. Zinchenko featured in 19 of their last 24 league games, so he would have expected a regular starting place in 2021/22 when Benjamin Mendy was suspended.
That didn’t work out, however, as the 25-year-old ended up making less league appearances (15) and amassing fewer minutes on the pitch. Zinchenko was also behind a makeshift left-back in the pecking order too, so he must have felt there was no way he’d hold down a starting place next season.
So City trying to sign Brighton & Hove Albion’s Marc Cucurella was the final nail in the coffin. Zinchenko wanted regular football and couldn’t get that under Guardiola, so Arsenal became an attractive proposition.
What’s strange is that the Ukrainian did play in both Champions League semi-final clashes and in City’s final seven league games, but he wasn’t valued enough by Pep in his six years at the Etihad – Zinchenko played in only 41% of City’s league games and was an unused substitute on 49 occassions.
In other news, Pep Guardiola guilty of poor treatment of Raheem Sterling before Man City exit
Is there more to this story that you forgot to publish? i.e. why Oleks wasn’t valued? What was the point of this article? But you got me to read it, so shame on me.