Arsene Wenger was desperate to bring Oleksandr Zinchenko to Arsenal and was confident he would play for the first team according to the midfielder’s agent.
The teenager signed for Manchester City in the summer after featuring at Euro 2016 for Ukraine but has subsequently been sent out on loan to PSV for the season.
His agent, Sandor Varga, has now claimed that Wenger was impressed by the Ukrainian after watching him in action for Shakhtar Donetsk and was very keen to bring him to north London.
“Wenger called and said: ‘I have need for that player. He’s going to play in the first team. I know he is only 17, but I’m going to write a letter to his family that I will take care of him when he is with us and he’ll play in the first team’,” Varga said via The Metro.
“Arsene had seen a youth game of Shakhtar and took 20 minutes to assess the potential of Oleksandr.”
Despite Wenger’s interest, and Varga claims the Gunners boss continued to track the youngster for some time, no move ever materialised until Pep Guardiola’s side snapped him up in July.
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“Wenger asked me 10 times about Zinchenko and I later informed him and felt even a bit sad because I couldn’t help him,” he added.
“He teased me and said: ‘I thought you were an authority in Eastern Europe’.”
Zinchenko is widely regarded as one of the brightest young talents in Europe currently although it may be some time before the teenager is able to show what Arsenal may have missed out on having been shipped straight out on loan following his arrival at the Etihad this summer.
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