West Ham United’s interest in Oleksandr Zinchenko, the four-time Premier League-winning Arsenal ace, could go some way to easing the concerns of supporters worrying about a sudden absence of experience in Graham Potter’s squad.
Vladimir Coufal, Lukasz Fabianski and Aaron Cresswell are departing, alongside the seldom-seen Danny Ings.
Should Emerson Palmieri and Michail Antonio also head for the exit – Lazio want the former Roma ace while the talks with the veteran Hammer have stalled – West Ham United will say goodbye to six players who between them have played 1,465 Premier League games.
And that is without mentioning Tomas Soucek.
Amid claims that Graham Potter wants to move on from Soucek this summer, Hammers News understands that both Leeds United and Everton have held discussions regarding the Czech Republic international.
Now, a loss of top-level experience was always to be expected, really. The squad Potter inherited from Julen Lopetegui was far older than he would ideally have liked.
Furthermore, with West Ham hoping to ‘reinvent’ Potter’s squad around a core of young, hungry, high-potential players, many fans will argue that a more Brighton or Brentford-influenced transfer model is long overdue.
A 28-year-old Oleksandr Zinchenko, then, doesn’t really fit the brief.
Yet, with Hammers News reporting that the Arsenal and Ukraine ace is an option for West Ham, a four-time Premier League champion whose ‘winning mentality’ made him such a favourite of Mikel Arteta’s may be worth deviating from the plan for.
Oleksandr Zinchenko poses during an Arsenal Training Session
Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images
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Graham Potter praised West Ham United target Oleksandr Zinchenko at Arsenal
Hammers News can reveal, via football correspondent Graeme Bailey, that Zinchenko is very happy living in London.
Despite interest from AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund, a footballer capable of excelling both as a left-back and as a ball-playing midfielder may at the very least be willing to hear what Graham Potter can offer.
Zinchenko left Manchester City for Arsenal in a deal worth £30 million back in 2022. Three years on, The Gunners are reportedly ready to consider offers in the region of £13 million after Zinchenko slipped behind the likes of Myles Lewis-Skelly in Mikel Arteta’s pecking order.
As for the winning mentality Arteta highlighted when reuniting with a man he worked with to considerable silver-coated success at the Etihad, Graham Potter also struck a similar tone when speaking about the now-West Ham target back ahead of Arsenal’s 1-0 victory over his Chelsea side at the start of 2022/23.
“They’ve recruited well in the summer,” Potter said, Arsenal signing both Zinchenko and striker Gabriel Jesus from their Premier League title rivals. “Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus know what you need to do to win and they’ve also carried on their idea.
“[The impact made by Zinchenko] is a really good example of how success can come.”
Graham Potter during Crystal Palace v Chelsea FC - Premier League
Photo by Paul Harding/Getty Images
Zinchenko has the mentality this West Ham squad is lacking
A huge influence on Arsenal’s emergence as bonafide title challengers around the time, West Ham likely view Zinchenko’s potential arrival at the London Stadium from a similar perspective.
A footballer who, as much through his fierce determination as well as his high-level tactical flexibility, would quickly seize a leadership role in a dressing room shorn of so much top-flight know-how.
“I think I would say that I got used to hearing that Arsenal means, straight away in your mind, ‘top four, top four’…” Zinchenko said during his early days at the Emirates.
“I would say, I really want to kill and destroy this stereotype. We need to look further, and I think this team, this group of people, the fans, they deserve more. That’s what we need to do.”
Such an attitude would go down extremely well with a West Ham fanbase demanding a whole lot more than those in charge currently seem capable of providing.
“Every time I see him play, you see his passion and it’s absolutely amazing,” former Arsenal full-back Armand Traore told talkSPORT after Eddie Nketiah scored a stoppage time winner against Manchester United in early-2023.
“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. 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.”