Oleksandr Zinchenko: Arsenal’s leader, Guardiola’s favourite, Ukraine’s talisman (2025)

The scene was Manchester City’s dressing room.

It was the point of the season when the heat of the battle was rising dangerously close to intolerable. Another title race was reaching its climax and City were again going head-to-head with Liverpool at the top of the table.

One of the players was on his feet. A pre-match huddle had formed. Four days earlier, City had lost to Real Madrid in a Champions League semi-final they had been winning 5-3 on aggregate until stoppage time in the second leg.

In the centre of the huddle, Oleksandr Zinchenko’s eyes were blazing.

This was his time to address his team-mates and Zinchenko, jabbing his finger, voice full of emotion, was almost shouting.

“Forget what happened in the past. This is gone, over. Forget! Just look at each other, give everything and die on the pitch. Everyone knows what they have to do on the pitch. We f***ing fight for something massive and incredible. We need to be ready to become legends. All of you. We go there and we f***ing die there.”

His team won 5-0 against Newcastle United that afternoon. It was May 8, 2022. City were confirmed as back-to-back champions two weeks later and, if you did not know the dressing-room dynamic, you might never have realised the man delivering that team talk was the third-youngest player in manager Pep Guardiola’s starting XI for the Newcastle game.

Don’t you just love how many leaders we have in our squad💪🏽🏆

Zinchenko last season in their important game Vs Newcastle. pic.twitter.com/vjYT3A2ROw

— The Arsenal Ramble (@ArsenalRamble_) December 22, 2022

Guardiola has never forgotten, though.

“I think everybody here is in love with him,” he said of Zinchenko on Tuesday, and the City manager had a look in his eye to say that he was absolutely sure of it. “No, honestly. He is an important figure in our club.”

At Arsenal, they would recognise all these traits now Zinchenko is giving everything to win the Premier League again there with a younger and less experienced team.

When Arsenal played Manchester United at the Emirates last month, it was Zinchenko who delivered the rallying cry in the pre-match huddle. His new team-mates in north London have become accustomed to these motivational speeches. They quickly came to realise that Gary Neville, usually such a fine judge of players, might have sold Zinchenko short when he described Ukraine’s 52-cap midfielder and some-time captain earlier this season as “not a leader”.

Not a leader? Perhaps that underestimates the story of a boy from a small Ukrainian town who left home at age 11, who had to flee his country as a teenager, whose life has been disfigured by war for nearly a decade, and who is now going for successive Premier League titles with different clubs.

Perhaps it underestimates the strength of personality and competitive courage he has shown to help Mikel Arteta’s team to the top of the league while friends and relatives were hiding in basements and bomb shelters 1,500 miles away.

At City, they still remember the conversations with Zinchenko after Russia launched its full-on invasion of Ukraine early last year and his belief at that time that he ought to go home to fight on the frontline.

Zinchenko was deadly serious but was eventually persuaded to use his position – a Premier League footballer with millions of followers on his social media channels – to fight the war in an entirely different way.

Today, the praise for him goes all the way to the top of his country, to president Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, and a commendation that suggests Zinchenko made the right decision.

“At a time of deep national trauma, Oleksandr Zinchenko has been an unflinching supporter of Ukraine,” says a senior official in the Ukrainian government. “He has bravely used the public profile of the Premier League to raise awareness about the atrocities perpetrated by the Russian war crimes machine.

“The medium of sport is a vital communication tool to touch the hearts of as many people as possible. Mr Zinchenko has played a key role in keeping these grave issues at the top of the news agenda. His efforts will not be forgotten.”

It was all in his eyes. They were ringed by dark smudges. He looked pale, withdrawn, defiant. “Almost gaunt, understandably so,” says Gary Lineker, who was sitting opposite him. “But I thought he was remarkably eloquent under the circumstances. He’s a very impressive individual.”

It was March 2022, weeks after Russian forces invaded Ukraine, and the media department at City had lost count of the number of interview requests they had received. Everyone wanted to speak to Zinchenko.

He chose BBC World, with Match Of The Day host Lineker skillfully asking the questions, because he knew he had to be proactive and make sure he was heard by the biggest international audience possible. Zinchenko’s wife, Vlada, is a sports reporter for Ukrainian television. Together, they understood the power of the media and how to use his platform to deliver his message.

But it was tough.

“It was incredibly poignant,” Lineker says. “It felt very real and I probably gave it more thought than any interview I’d done before. Normally, we’d talk about football or sport and it’s like a conversation that comes naturally. With this one, it felt really important.

“There was a point where he got very emotional and, I have to be honest, I did, too. To hear him talking about his concerns, his fears and his family… it was deeply moving.”

Zinchenko was born in Radomyshl, a town of 14,000 people, 60 miles (107km) west of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv. His parents are still there, along with other relatives. Radomyshl has escaped the worst of the war.

Every day, though, there is the almost unspeakable fear that Russian forces might eventually come their way. It never goes away and Zinchenko knows because he has seen it himself how quickly everything can change.

Now 26, Zinchenko is a graduate of Shakhtar Donetsk’s academy, having initially moved 350 miles from home at the age of 11 to be part of a junior system in Odessa.

Donetsk, in the far east of Ukraine, is unrecognisable these days and large parts of the city are occupied by Russians. Its Donbass Arena, a 52,000-seat stadium that hosted matches at the 2012 European Championship and was Shakhtar’s home until they were forced to leave in 2014 by the escalating conflict, has been heavily damaged by shelling. So many of Zinchenko’s friends, or friends of friends, have been affected.

“I’m just crying,” Zinchenko told Lineker. “I can drive the car from the training ground, or it doesn’t matter where, and I just cry from nothing because it’s everything in my head. Imagine the place where you were born, where you were growing up, and there is just empty ground.”

Zinchenko attended anti-war vigils in Manchester during the early days following the invasion a year ago. More than once, he took a Ukraine flag onto the pitch. He wept in news conferences. A post on his Instagram was ‘dedicated’ to Vladimir Putin, the Russian president: “I hope you die the most painful, suffering death, Creature.”

Eventually, though, the raw emotion was replaced by a steely determination that tells us more about who Zinchenko really is.

He set up the Football For Ukraine charity with Andriy Shevchenko, the nation’s most celebrated ex-footballer. Zinchenko has helped to assemble a team of dedicated volunteers who load up lorries to transport much-needed provisions back to Ukraine. He rings injured soldiers in Ukrainian hospitals. His charity work helps refugees who have fled their country to pay for food or find somewhere to live.

It frustrates him that he spent 18 months in Russia with FC Ufa and his former team-mates there have not used their positions to speak out against their war.

The teenage Zinchenko had moved to Moscow with his family after Russian troops arrived in Donetsk in 2014 and his folks decided it was no longer safe to remain where they were. So he understood the sense of emergency, eight years later, when he received a text message from Andriy Kravchuk, a now 23-year-old Ukrainian playing in Russia, that told him: “I can’t be here any longer, I need to get out.”

Kravchuk, a fellow graduate of Shakhtar’s academy, had been playing for Torpedo Moscow when Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine.

Zinchenko explained to City that one of his friends was in trouble and the Premier League champions made it clear they would help. Kravchuk was allowed to train with City and stayed in club accommodation for four months until he could find another team. He is now with Vorskla Poltava in the Ukrainian Premier League.

Another story, never told until now, is of Zinchenko helping to fix up half a dozen Ukrainian refugees with places in City’s academy. Some were the children of friends’ families. Others sent messages asking for help.

Zinchenko’s charity has raised more than £1million so far. More will come if he and Shevchenko can finalise plans for a match in June, to be hosted by either Arsenal or Chelsea. Other fundraising goes through United 24, a charity set up by President Zelensky.

It is a lot to take on but Zinchenko – “Alex”, as he is known in England – is from a generation of footballers that has seen Marcus Rashford, Raheem Sterling and others use their platforms to tackle difficult issues and, in his case, campaign for peace.

“It makes me proud of young footballers that they can do this,” says Lineker. “They are in their 20s, only just turning adults, yet they have these enormous platforms and responsibilities and a lot of them use it incredibly well. Nobody has done this more admirably than Alex.”

Perhaps the most impressive part of it all is that the wearer of Arsenal’s No 35 shirt has maintained such a high level of performance while there has been so much grief and turmoil in his life.

But the people who know what it is like to stand shoulder to shoulder with Zinchenko can vouch that he has always been absolutely dedicated to his profession.

Emmanuel Frimpong, once of Arsenal, spent 18 months with Zinchenko at Ufa, nearly 1,000 miles east of Moscow.

“I remember when training had finished sometimes and, while the rest of us went inside, he would stay out, working on his technique, his passing,” Frimpong says. “He breathes football. He was always so motivated. And he has a very supportive family, especially his mum (Irina). She has to take a lot of credit. When he moved to Russia, his mum moved over with him and was always with him.”

Irina, interviewed in 2019, told a story of when her son, aged eight, was caught misbehaving. She knew she had to do something to punish him. So she told him he could not go to football training that night.

“He got up and said, ‘You can stop me from going out, stop me watching TV or computer games, but don’t punish me by stopping my training’. I thought, ‘Can I take the air from my son?’.”

After joining City in the summer of 2016, there were long spells when Zinchenko was only on the edges of the first-team picture. His coaches knew it burned inside him but there was never any dissent on his part. Zinchenko just got on with the business of showing that he, a relatively unknown player, could cut it at the highest level.

“What I like the most about Alex,” Guardiola told The Athletic on Tuesday, “was that, in the first years, we wanted to move him from here because we thought he wasn’t going to play much and he said, ‘No, no, no. I’m going to fight for this position.’ I said, ‘Alex, it’s difficult because we have many players in your position’. But he said, ‘No, no, no. I’m going to play here’.

“He trained really well. He never had a bad face. Even when he was playing sparingly, he always had good behaviour. Normally when you don’t play, you can see it in the players’ eyes. He was completely the opposite, still working extra time in the gym. Then he took the opportunity like it was the last chance in the world. That is a good football player and (touching his head) a good mindset.”

Just consider the story about the time, one Sunday in November 2017, when City won 2-1 in a Premier League fixture at Huddersfield Town. Zinchenko, then 20, was an unused substitute.

When the team got back to City’s training complex that night, everybody started to drift home. Zinchenko went straight to the gym, all by himself, and turned off the lights when he left at the end of his workout an hour later.

Guardiola’s eyes shine brightly when he tells that tale.

Others remember a man known as “Zinner” being a popular member of the dressing room: someone who would mix well, who gave everything in training and had a good heart – the kind of guy who would speak to a chef or kit man the same way he would superstar team-mate Kevin De Bruyne.

They remember his games of Uno with Kyle Walker, John Stones and Riyad Mahrez on the team coach, on flights and in various hotels, and how incredibly competitive and noisy they would become. Zinchenko hated to lose, even at cards.

Plus, he was a student of football. He wanted to soak in every bit of information and get to know his team-mates better by learning different languages: Spanish, Portuguese, French. With so many Spanish speakers at the club, another story is of the Ukrainian urging his team-mates “Vamos hostia” before matches. Translation: “Fucking come on!”

Since moving to Arsenal, though, it is different. Zinchenko came from a dressing room of serial champions. He is a four-time Premier League winner and, with that, came a certain responsibility at a club who haven’t claimed the title since 2004.

“He (Zinchenko) is so involved and so immersed in Arsenal,” says one of his former coaches, who prefers not to be named while City are going head-to-head with Arsenal for the title. “How he celebrates goals, how he hugs the fans. Sometimes I think, ‘Jesus, this guy has been there only five months, that can’t be real’. But at the same time, I see a more mature footballer in him.

“His switch to Arsenal was not only a change of clubs but a change of role. In Manchester, he was more of a fringe player. At Arsenal, you get the feeling he knew he was important since minute one.

Oleksandr Zinchenko enjoyed Arsenal’s third goal ⚽️ #ARSLIV pic.twitter.com/edLoqMbnxJ

— TEAMtalk (@TEAMtalk) October 9, 2022

“It wouldn’t surprise me if this was something Mikel Arteta specifically requested from him. Zinchenko came from City, where he won a lot, and it was time to bring this mentality to a team that was not used to it – fearless and contagious with it.”

One typical story goes back to their 3-2 defeat of Manchester United in January.

Jakub Kiwior was at the Emirates that Sunday, with his £17.5million transfer to Arsenal from Italian club Spezia to be announced the following day. Zinchenko was introduced to the 22-year-old Poland defender and, after the match, insisted on taking him into the dressing room to soak in the celebrations.

“If you’re already with us, you’re already with us,” he told his new colleague.

So was it a mistake for City to sell Zinchenko to the club, managed by Guardiola’s former assistant, that has emerged as the front-runner in this season’s title race?

History will remember it that way if Arsenal can hold off City’s challenge, starting with their top-of-the-table encounter at the Emirates tonight. Yet it is easy sometimes to be wise after the event and nobody really saw it that way at the time.

“There were reasons,” says Guardiola. “What happened at the end was that Mikel knew him pretty well because he had worked with him. They had worked together and he believed Alex could be this piece (of the jigsaw) to try to make the process a little bit better. I’m happy for him.”

A lot has changed in Zinchenko’s life since his first away trip with City in 2016, for a pre-season friendly against Arsenal in the Swedish city of Gothenburg, when he did not realise the pre-match lunch was mandatory and remained in his hotel room.

Newly signed from Ufa for £1.6million, he had no idea how strict Guardiola was about team meals until one of the coaches was sent to fetch him. The player was mortified, asking whether he would be fined, panicking that his manager would be angry. His innocence endeared him to club staff.

Seven months after leaving City for £32million, it is also worth keeping in mind that he grew up with Arsenal as his favourite team and there was a strong emotional pull about this transfer.

One of Zinchenko’s first-ever interviews, as an academy player at Shakhtar, included a question about whether there was one particular club he had always wanted to play for. Zinchenko replied that it was Arsenal and, though everyone found it amusing, it had to be gently pointed out to him that it might be worth mentioning Shakhtar, too.

Zinchenko saw himself as an attacking midfielder in those days. He loved Ronaldinho’s skills and Dennis Bergkamp’s artistry. His favourite player, though, was Thierry Henry — in common with a lot of Arsenal fans of his generation.

All of which helps to explain why he has commissioned a mural of himself, wearing Arsenal’s colours, in the gymnasium of his new house. Zinchenko contacted the artist, Emma Kenny, directly via Instagram and they worked together to come up with the final design.

“The house was being renovated for the Zinchenko family to move in,” says Kenny, who comes from a family of Tottenham Hotspur fans but has remained neutral in this case. “We discussed initial concepts, which included various poses on different backdrops and eventually we agreed on the design of him inside the Emirates.”

Zinchenko has had his home gym painted with a mural of him at the Emirates. You can tell he absolutely loves the club already. What a man. pic.twitter.com/b0F3offNch

— GoonerTalk (@GoonerTaIk) November 9, 2022

“He used to ask me a lot about Arsenal,” says Frimpong. “He would say, ‘You used to play with Robin van Persie? Wow! I can’t believe you played with Van Persie — that’s so crazy’. We’d carry on talking. ‘And Wenger was your coach? Oh my God!’ He’d call over a friend: ‘I can’t believe this guy played for Arsenal’. It was always about Arsenal, no other teams. What he is doing now is what he used to dream about.”

Frimpong, whose career started in Arsenal’s academy, is now 31 and living in Ghana, where he works in the media and is speaking to The Athletic via his involvement with OLBG. At Ufa, he doubled up as Zinchenko’s English tutor.

“His English was very poor,” he says. “I was probably the best English speaker at the club, so I used to teach him the language. He always used to ask questions about England. To begin with, I thought it was a bit odd. But it showed his mindset. He was already planning ahead.”

Frimpong, the older man by five years, had some difficult times in Russia. He sounds grateful for Zinchenko’s friendship. “When I think back to those years, a lot of the Russians and Ukrainians were very racist. Zinchenko, though, was the type of person who would fit in anywhere, whether it be England or a small village in Africa.”

Guardiola’s verdict shortly after Zinchenko joined Arsenal was that “everyone can learn from Alex”.

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day, and Guardiola used it to declare his enduring love for the player.

Arteta will be glad, presumably, that it is only a long-distance relationship for City these days.

Additional contributors: Adam Crafton and Pol Ballus

(Main graphic — photo: Getty Images/design: Sam Richardson)