Oleksandr Zinchenko: For club and country

Oleksandr joined us from Manchester City before the start of last season and immediately became an important player in the squad, providing exciting midfield thrust despite nominally playing as a left-back and showing demonstrable leadership skills on the pitch.

Having won four Premier League titles, four League Cups and an FA Cup at the Etihad, he knows the requirements for success, including the need for togetherness.

“You need to trust each other, this is the main thing,” says the 27-year-old. “In terms of everything, it could be on the pitch or off the pitch. You need to feel like you are a member of a family with your teammates. That’s what makes this team feel special, like we are all members of a family, everyone is trying to help you, they push you in difficult moments in a positive way – every single time. That makes your life much, much easier.

“And team spirit, that’s everyone being fully focused on the win in every single game. This mentality is the right way to achieve big things. We are still learning this to be honest, but we are definitely on the right road to doing this.

“We are a close group,” continues Alex, who is now just one match away from making 50 starts for the club. “It’s difficult to choose the player I am closest to, but if I choose one then it is Gabriel Jesus – because I have known him longer than my wife! I’m joking, but I have known him for a long time!

"We both have kids now, so our schedules mean it’s quite hard to spend time together as families, but it’s nice to share experiences with players from different countries and cultures, though we all speak the same language, football language, which is understood all around the world.

“Actually, I have always wanted to go to Brazil, so it’s nice now to have friends through football that I can ask about this country and give me advice.”

Throughout Alex’s career, he has found the right blend of teammates to create a special bond amongst the players. “I was lucky to be honest, because from when I was little, I always had a special group of people in teams. My first team, Karpatiya, in Radomyshl where I was born and raised - I had a special group there, it’s so important to have good teammates around you.

“In the beginning I used to play with much older guys but you need a good mix of players at different stages of their careers to get success. A good combination. First of all if you have someone with experience, they can share things with the younger players.

"I remember when I first started to play in a professional team and there were guys much, much older than me. Every time they gave you advice, you had to listen with open ears you know. You can have teams with just young players, but at some stages in matches there can be difficult situations where you need to know what to do from experience – hold the ball, even make a foul, you need to read the situation and without experience that’s very difficult to do.”

Alex remembers the wisdom imparted by older teammates whenever he is in a situation where he can help one of the many talented youngsters coming through the ranks at Arsenal.

“100 per cent I remember receiving advice like it was yesterday. And so when you see really young players training or playing with you, you try to visualise yourself in their shoes. You see some things they are doing right, some things they are doing wrong, not because of their quality, but because they are just inexperienced, and you just want to help them. I was lucky to have people around me who gave me help and advice when I was young, and that’s why I’m happy to do the same now if the time is right to do it.”

In March 2021, Alex became Ukraine’s youngest captain, aged 24, so was it difficult to be the figurehead of the team, many of whom were older than him?

“To be honest, if you see the games when I was captaining my team, I had played more than lots of the older guys and so I didn’t feel uncomfortable at all,” says Alex, who now has 58 caps for his country. “And today in modern football, it’s not just the captain who is the leader. I think if you have plenty of leaders in your team it makes your life much easier. That’s what evolved in the Ukrainian national team on and off the pitch and we have the same situation with Arsenal too.

“I think I look at this word ‘leader’ a bit deeper than other words. Leader can be a guy who is not playing on the team regularly, but the way he is around the squad, without him it would be a lot more difficult."

“You need to trust each other. it could be on the pitch or off the pitch. You need to feel like you are a member of a family with your teammates"

The second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has just passed. The declaration of war was a moment that truly shocked the world and was utterly devastating for Alex and his fellow Ukrainians. He has repeatedly spoken about the need for football to keep the spotlight on the conflict – not least by helping to organise the Game4Ukraine last August. On this unwanted anniversary, he reflects on life now for his compatriots.

“No one can realise what we are going through, all of us Ukrainians – especially those living in the country, trying to adapt their lives with the bombs above them,” says Alex, who is from Radomyshl, 100km to the west of Kyiv. “I have two kids now and I can’t imagine me and my family living this life when during the night there is a siren and you have to go and hide yourself in the bunker, in the shadows. It’s hard to explain to people that this is the situation in Ukraine.

“But all of us football players who play abroad, we are talking to people back home and trying to help as much as we can, however we can, trying to send a message to the people around the world about the situation. I can understand that there is some fatigue with people [about the war] but we need to carry on. You never know what is going to happen for the next years. We need to stick together.”

Understandably passionate as he stresses the focus that must remain on his country, he goes on to highlight how football can help.

“We understand as players that what we have is an extra responsibility. What we can give to our people are some extra emotions, make them smile, make them happy for at least a couple of minutes. This is our duty, to bring them joy. That’s what we try and do every single time we play with the Ukrainian badge on our chest.

“How football came together for Game4Ukraine made me very proud. If you take a step back and look at the names who played, who came to support us, I’m very proud. The main target was to raise money to rebuild schools in Ukraine but also to send another powerful message to the rest of the world, that Ukraine will never give up and to our people back home that we were thinking about them.”

"This is our duty, to bring them joy. That’s what we try and do every single time we play with the Ukrainian badge on our chest"

On the game closest to the first anniversary last year, at Leicester on February 25, Alex wore the captain’s armband in our 1-0 win, an armband in Ukrainian colours.

“That also made me feel very proud and thanks to Martin and to Mikel for that opportunity and also to the Premier League, for allowing there to be attention on this and send another message to the rest of the world.”

More generally, Alex’s respect for his manager and fellow players is obvious, but he also stresses the importance of the entire backroom staff and beyond at Arsenal and their key role in ensuring the team on the pitch can operate at the superb standard we have witnessed in recent seasons.

“I have a good relationship with all of them [the wider staff] and it’s important we all feel part of the group,” he says. “Maybe some fans around the world look at us and think Arsenal is just the team they see on the pitch. It’s much, much bigger than that. It’s the guys who work so hard at the training ground and at the stadium to make this team, this club a success.

“Us players, we are just like the actors in the film, but there are a lot of people behind the scenes which is making this film special. Without all their contributions, to achieve any success would be very, very hard.”

And lastly, when we talk of togetherness, the final word has to go to supporters and on Alex’s arrival at the start of last season, he was truly taken aback by the passion of their support at Emirates Stadium – and can’t help himself from making his own small contribution to the atmosphere too!

“The energy from the fans, I felt it was really special,” says ‘Zinny’, “I realised how big Arsenal fans were as a club. Without their support, it would be so, so hard. Especially in the games when sometimes it’s not going well and they just keep pushing you – that’s why we call them our 12th player.

“My family always love the atmosphere too, they are excited and sing North London Forever. Even me, when I’m on the pitch, or on the bench, when this song starts, I cannot avoid it, I’m joining in too!”