It’s been just over a year since Oleksandr Zinchenko joined us from Manchester City, and the Ukrainian full-back is already firmly part of the Arsenal family.
He won back-to-back Arsenal Player of the Month awards in January and February, while his strike away to Aston Villa also won our Goal of the Month award. He played more than 30 times in his debut season, but pre-season so far has been disrupted by injury.
Our No35 is closing in on his return though, while also helping to organise Game4Ukraine – a fundraising match to support the relief effort in his home country that will take place this Saturday at Stamford Bridge.
We caught up with Alex at the end of our summer tour to the United States to hear more about those efforts, but we began by talking about his pre-season so far:
First of all, how’s the injury progressing?
It is getting better now. Obviously I have a little bit of time to feel completely better in terms of my injury that I received before. The target at the moment is just to get as fit as possible as soon as I can, and then of course to stay fit throughout the season, which is most important. That’s my target.
You travelled with the team to the United States – what was that like?
Well, it's always tough when you can’t play, but it was nice to be all together and to prepare ourselves in the best way for the next season. We spent some good time together as a group, which will really help us for the season. It’s my second pre-season as I joined up with the team in America last time, so obviously I’ve had a year with the lads now and we already know each other much better. That makes everything easier.
Does last pre-season when you signed feel like more than a year ago?
To be fair it does, because Arsenal became my family very quickly, and during last season we shared a lot of moments and experiences together – both good and bad. We had a lot of very interesting times, that’s for sure.
Now the new players have arrived, how are you helping them to settle in?
All of us are trying to help them as much as we can, and I think they already feel so good. We have an amazing team here both on the pitch and off. It’s really not a problem for
new players to arrive. Everything is here for anyone who comes in, and of course they are great players, so they help us on the pitch like we help them off the pitch.
Tell us first your thoughts on Declan Rice.
He is an unbelievable player – he’s an amazing signing for us. He has incredible qualities and looks like he is so hungry to achieve something big. It’s so important to have these kind of players with us. It's an amazing signing to help get big success for the club. We're glad that Declan wanted to join Arsenal.
It’s something important for the whole club, the players and the fans, and it gives us more desire to achieve something. We didn't achieve what we wanted last season, but we had a lot of good lessons and we will be stronger. Again, if these kind of players want to join us, it’s because they know we are on the right journey here.
Another player you know from the Premier League is Kai Havertz...
Yes, an amazing guy and an amazing player. I think he's going to help Arsenal a lot during this season. It looks like he didn’t waste any time at all in his adaptation, in training and in the games, and he scored in his first match. Since day one that he’s been with us he has looked at home. We all know his qualities and we’re so happy to have him.
And finally, Jurrien Timber, who maybe you don’t know as well?
No, I do know about him because I watched him and followed the way he played at Ajax. Also I played against him for the national team so I know about him as a player, what amazing qualities he has, and now I know him off the pitch. He’s a great guy, another incredible signing for Arsenal who will help us a lot.
Is he a similar type of player to you on the other flank, and will come into midfield like you do?
Maybe he is, but maybe better than me. I’m sure he is 100 per cent going to show us what he can do, and will really help us.
Finally, can you tell us about the Game4Ukraine, which you have helped arrange and will be played this Saturday?
This event means a lot for me, and also for our country. It’s for the Ukrainian people. A lot of ex-football players, a lot of legends will be there - not just footballers, but some famous actors. I want to thank them for their support and it's going to be something special.
The main target is to raise some funds to rebuild one of the schools in my region in Ukraine. It’s also another powerful message to the rest of the world that we stick together. For us as Ukrainian people it means the world because people might be watching this on TV, and back in Ukraine they're going to think, “Wow, look how many people are staying behind us.”
Of course, since the invasion, this is already part of my life. Every single day I’m living with this all around my country and with the people staying over there. My family and I try to help as much as we can, and obviously with the event that is coming on Saturday I feel that my mission is to try and help.
My kids will ask me when they’re bigger, “Daddy, what did you do when this war was happening?” I just want to look in my daughter’s eyes and just say: “Look, your mother and I tried to do our best to help people, to help our country.” Obviously I’m using football, which is the best sport in the world, to represent our country in the best way. I know some people have fatigue from this war, but all of us need to fight for our freedom and independence because I couldn’t imagine this happening in the 2020s.
Imagine the place where you were born and raised, and one day another country comes to your place, destroying it all around you, killing kids and doing a lot of scary things
to achieve what? That’s the question. So I’m telling people who have some of that fatigue that tomorrow it could be your country. That’s why we have to stick together and fight until the end.
How did you get involved in Game4Ukraine?
A bit more than a month ago I was in Ukraine for the first time since the invasion, and me and Andriy Shevchenko went to the school which we are going to rebuild and we spoke to the kids. I’m not going to say to you what we were talking about because it’s scary. But I spoke with these kids and with the guys who are on the frontline and taking risks every single day.
Alex was speaking to the Emirates Cup official programme, which you can purchase online now
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