Saturday round-up: Zinchenk-go? Zubimendi.

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, today’s blog is going to be short, pithy and to the point. Or not. I say these things at the start then don’t pay any attention to myself. Anyway, let’s 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. It’s one of those rumours that seems to be based on ‘Well this guy knows this guy and that guy might be up for sale so let’s get it out there’, more than anything truly substantive at this point.

That said, if there was money on offer I think we’d take it. As season went on and the stakes got higher, it was clear Mikel Arteta’s trust in Zinchenko waned. I don’t think he had a good season by any means, and the defensive issues coupled with a loss of confidence on the player’s 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 – and that told you plenty about how Zinchenko was viewed by the manager.

He has two years to run on his contract, and as I’ve said here before, I think a left-back should be on our shopping list this summer. It’s such an important position, but one where there is a lack of certainty about who plays, and it’s 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, it’s more than possible Zinchenko could be on the move.

Meanwhile one of our reported midfield targets, Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi, has apparently ‘rejected’ an approach from Arsenal, saying he’d 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 he’s 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. It’s only just gone June, there’s a whole summer to play out, and Zubimendi will be away with Spain at the Euros, so he’s probably a late-summer mover if he goes anywhere at all.

I will say he’s a player I like the profile of, particularly as I think our midfield business will be a 6 rather than an 8, but if it’s not him, it’ll be someone else. And I’m 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.