not a furious willy shaker, to use dula parlance. but a sound signing nonetheless. I reckon he'll end up getting a tonne of game time this season

Good deal for us I think, although I'm a little suspicious of his level and consistency as a midfielder. As a leftback he's a strong upgrade though, probably on Tierney's level but without his injury issues. He's five tiers better than Cedric or so which makes this a very good signing. He's also a good failsafe option if the Partey affair reaches an ugly conclusion. I reckon he'll get a lot of minutes this season too.

It's easy to underestimate the damage that a subpar backup can do when asked to play for a prolonged period. We seriously needed this signing; Tierney's durability is unreliable.

A good squad player. Zinchenko himself can be suspect defensively when under pressure and I am not sure about him in midfield in the Premier League but it's always great to have versatile options. I really hope we sign a top CM though.

Increasingly thinking that this will be our Xhaka upgrade unless we shift some players out.

Would be bad news if our starting midfielder has to play LB for 60% of the season because Tierney is unavailable.

Well, that's where I think Xhaka may rightly/wrongly step back in.

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

Would be bad news if our starting midfielder has to play LB for 60% of the season because Tierney is unavailable.

It would be bad news if we signed Zinchenko as a first XI midfielder IMO. As a left back I think he can challenge Tierney for the starting role though so happy with the signing.

Still need that starting midfielder though.

Lisandro Martinez was targeted as a left back according to the Athletic so I'd imagine he's coming here for much the same reason. I think rather than him starting in midfield, the plan is for him to join midfield from left back and play narrow.

I often found that once Tierney began playing that tucked in narrow LB role, there was a lot of onus on Martinelli who was often double marked. It also felt like in the last quarter of the season, FBs on both sides just stopped providing overlapping runs in attack (some of that may have had to do with the first choices injured). Seems a bit problematic.

Yeah agree.. in a way having a fullback join the midfield definitely has its uses if they are capable.. but if we are going to play say Zinchenko and Tomiyasu, we are going to loose a lot of width... Maybe the plan will be to have the CM join the overlaps more frequently

Welcome to the club.

Not sure how good he is defensively, but at least he's a good footballer.

Class player. I think he’ll play on the left side of the midfield three long term. Probably play left back initially though.

Hope he isn't wasted at left back. He's brilliant as a central midfielder. Great touch, vision, awareness etc.

KingslandBarge wrote:

I often found that once Tierney began playing that tucked in narrow LB role, there was a lot of onus on Martinelli who was often double marked. It also felt like in the last quarter of the season, FBs on both sides just stopped providing overlapping runs in attack (some of that may have had to do with the first choices injured). Seems a bit problematic.

Thats why you need a more dynamic player than Xhaka on the left side of midfield. If you double up on the LW there should be space there to exploit but thats not Xhakas game and Odegaards drifts to the right too much. You need someone who is comfortable driving forward on and off the ball in that position.