Former Arsenal defender Armand Traore has hailed Oleksandr Zinchenko’s impact at his former club and believes the Ukrainian is the ‘cherry on the cake’ for Mikel Arteta.
Traore is a product of Arsenal’s academy and played for the North London club between 2006 and 2011, and it is fair to say that the former Gunner is loving his old side’s current form, with Zinchenko being a favourite star of his.
The left-back departed Man City last summer to join Mikel Arteta’s squad and has had a big impact at the London club.
On the field, his versatility has been very useful, with the 26-year-old often stepping into midfield when Arsenal have the ball as the Gunners look to dominate possession and implement Arteta’s intense style of play.
Off the pitch, the Ukrainian is described as a leader and having won the Premier League already with City, that experience will be useful in the Arsenal dressing room when things get tough towards the end of the season.
Armand Traore hails Oleksandr Zinchenko’s impact at Arsenal
Speaking exclusively to talkSPORT, Traore said about Zinchenko’s time at Arsenal so far: “Zinchenko has been absolutely unbelievable.”
“Every time I see him play, you see his passion and you saw him scream after the game [against United] and it’s absolutely amazing.
“I’m thinking [back to] the game against Man United, a few times when Arsenal were maybe not finding a way, he goes and makes things happen. He moves out of his position and gets into little pockets to try and make things happen and this is quite incredible. You can tell that he’s played under Pep Guardiola because he plays in a similar way.
“For Arsenal, he’s been great. The second choice left-back is Kieran Tierney [and] he’s a great left-back, but at the moment he can’t get much of a game because of how great Zinchenko has been.
“He’s also great for the mentality of the whole squad because he’s won titles. I think he’s come in and been absolutely fantastic. I’m really impressed with him. He’s almost like the cherry on top [of the cake].”