Good morning.
On the Arsecast on Friday I complained about the lack of summer here in Dublin, and to my surprise we had a lovely warm day yesterday. However, Mother Nature is a vindictive swine, so the price to be paid for such a day is the fact I have a rotten head cold. Everything in the world sounds like its underwater, and I feel terrible. Lovely.
So, todayโs blog is going to be short, pithy and to the point. Or not. I say these things at the start then donโt pay any attention to myself. Anyway, letโs start with news that Bayern Munich are interested in Oleksandr Zinchenko, with new manager there Vincent Kompany reportedly keen to bring his former Man City teammate to Germany. Itโs one of those rumours that seems to be based on โWell this guy knows this guy and that guy might be up for sale so letโs get it out thereโ, more than anything truly substantive at this point.
That said, if there was money on offer I think weโd take it. As season went on and the stakes got higher, it was clear Mikel Artetaโs trust in Zinchenko waned. I donโt think he had a good season by any means, and the defensive issues coupled with a loss of confidence on the playerโs part, contributed to some dodgy performances. So much so that when Takehiro Tomiyasu was fully fit, he was the man who played in the vital games in the run-in โ and that told you plenty about how Zinchenko was viewed by the manager.
He has two years to run on his contract, and as Iโve said here before, I think a left-back should be on our shopping list this summer. Itโs such an important position, but one where there is a lack of certainty about who plays, and itโs an area I think we can improve on. So, if there is real interest from Bayern or elsewhere, and we can find the right player to bring in, itโs more than possible Zinchenko could be on the move.
Meanwhile one of our reported midfield targets, Real Sociedadโs Martin Zubimendi, has apparently โrejectedโ an approach from Arsenal, saying heโd rather play for Real Madrid or Barcelona. Which is entirely reasonable, I suppose. He just might not fancy living in England, or playing in the Premier League, or heโs invested in a crypto start-up operating from an office on La Rambla and he wants to keep a close eye on the business in the vain hope his worthless currency becomes the new bitcoin, when in all likelihood his money will go the same way as all the cash that gigantic idiot John Terry spent on cartoon monkeys.
I would just say this comes from Catalan paper SPORT who have to fill their pages with stuff every day, and this kind of story is commonplace during the summer. It could be solid info, it could be a writer taking a nugget of something and turning it into this, or an agent just positioning his player in the orbit of the big clubs. The question is, and I mean this quite sincerely, should we care? And the answer is: no. Itโs only just gone June, thereโs a whole summer to play out, and Zubimendi will be away with Spain at the Euros, so heโs probably a late-summer mover if he goes anywhere at all.
I will say heโs a player I like the profile of, particularly as I think our midfield business will be a 6 rather than an 8, but if itโs not him, itโll be someone else. And Iโm happy to trust the judgement of Arteta and Edu on that.
Right, I am going to drink some Lemsip and see if I can unblock my head. Have a lovely Saturday folks, and enjoy the Champions League final later on.
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