Manchester City and Arsenal Reach 'Verbal Agreement' Over Oleksandr Zinchenko Transfer

Manchester City have verbally agreed to sell Oleksandr Zinchenko to Arsenal for a fee of around £30m.

The 25 year-old Ukrainian joined City for just £1.7m from Russian side Ufa in 2016 and was then soon loaned out to PSV Eindhoven.

After impressing City manager Pep Guardiola upon his return from the Netherlands, Zinchenko found opportunities in the City first-team.

Naturally an attacking midfielder, the Ukrainian took his chance during the 2017/18 season, coming in at the unorthodox position of left-back when City were suffering an injury crisis.

Zinchenko impressed and remained in the defensive position for the following four seasons.

Despite his new defensive role, the player has continued to play in midfield positions for his national team, including doing so in a run to the quarter-finals in Euro 2021.

It is expected that he will play both at left back as well as his natural midfield role when he makes the move to Arsenal.

Although the fee has reportedly been settled, the personal terms of the deal are yet to be resolved and are still to be discussed.

Both Zinchenko’s new salary and length of contract are being negotiated and are key steps in completing the transfer, according to Fabrizio Romano.

The Ukrainian is no stranger to the London side’s setup, having played under manager Mikel Arteta when the Spaniard was assistant manager at the Etihad Stadium.

He will also become the second player to make the switch from City to Arsenal this summer following the £45m deal between the two clubs for Brazilian striker Gabriel Jesus.

It is likely that City will replace Zinchenko, with Brighton & Hove Albion left back Marc Cucurella continually mooted.

Cucurella is a product of Barcelona’s youth academy and only joined the Premier League side last season in a transfer from Getafe.

After an explosive debut season, the Spaniard won both Brighton’s Player of the Season award as well as their Player’s Player of the Year award.

City have pursued Cucurella all summer, but disagreements on the transfer fee with Brighton have caused the move to stagnate in recent weeks.

The Seagulls value their star player highly, but the Premier League Champions are reluctant to put in a bid in excess of £50m to sign the Spanish defender, as reported by Graeme Bailey.

In his debut campaign in England, Cucurella made 38 appearances, registering two assists and scoring one goal.