Arsenal boss Arteta praises versatile Zinchenko ahead of move

Oleksandr Zinchenko

Orlando, US: Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta on Wednesday praised Oleksandr Zinchenko’s versatility ahead of the Ukrainian international’s move to the north London club from Manchester City for a reported fee of around 32mn pounds ($38.35mn). Earlier this week, reports said Arsenal would pay Premier League champions City 30mn pounds up front, with 2mn pounds in add-ons, for the 25-year-old, who will become their fifth recruit in the close season. Zinchenko worked with Arteta when the Spaniard was an assistant to Pep Guardiola at City from 2016 to 2019. “There are still a few formalities to get everything completed but we’re really happy to have him,” Arteta told reporters after Arsenal’s 3-1 win over Orlando City. “I know the player really well. He’s an exceptional footballer. He is someone that is going to bring as well another competitive edge to that dressing room. He was a natural No 10 early in his career and we converted him into a left back which can do a lot of things that we want in our way of playing. That versatility is something that is going to be important for the team because we have players in that position (left back) who are more specific full backs, so I’m really happy.” Arsenal beat Major League Soccer’s Orlando to claim a third pre-season win, with Eddie Nketiah, Gabriel Martinelli and Reiss Nelson getting on the scoresheet for the English club, while Facundo Torres scored the home side’s only goal. Arsenal will also take on Premier League rivals Chelsea in the United States before rounding off their pre-season preparations against Sevilla in London on July 30. They begin their league campaign on Aug 5 with a London derby at Crystal Palace.Bremer heads to Juventus as De Ligt’s replacement Juventus announced they had signed Torino defender Bremer a little over 24 hours after Matthis de Ligt left for Bayern Munich. The 36-time Italian champions have paid 41mn euros ($41.7mn) for 25-year-old Brazilian Bremer, who had joined their local rivals in 2018 from Atletico Mineiro. Netherlands centre-back de Ligt left Juve on Tuesday after three seasons. Massimiliano Allegri’s side have also signed the likes of France World Cup winner Paul Pogba and Argentina attacker Angel Di Maria as they eye a first league title since 2020. After a record nine consecutive Scudetti (2012 to 2020), the ‘Old Lady’ have been outside the top three in Serie A for the past two seasons and have not reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League since 2019. Earlier on Wednesday, Paulo Dybala joined Roma after his deal with Juve expired.England women rally to reach Euro 2022 semi-finals England rallied from the brink of elimination to beat Spain 2-1 after extra time and reach the semi-finals of Euro 2022 thanks to Georgia Stanway’s stunning strike. Ether Gonzalez’s opener had the hosts heading for an early exit, but Ella Toone rescued the Lionesses six minutes from the end of normal time before Stanway’s winner took England into the last four of a fourth consecutive major tournament. Sarina Wiegman’s side will face Sweden or Belgium in the final four on Tuesday. Former West Germany captain Uwe Seeler dies, aged 85 Uwe Seeler, one of the iconic figures of post-war German football and who skippered West Germany in the 1966 World Cup final, has died at the age of 85, officials said yesterday. Seeler made his debut for Hamburg just after the Second World War in 1946 and went on to make 476 appearances before his retirement in 1972. He was later club president but resigned in 1998 because of a financial scandal in which he was not implicated. He played a total of 72 matches for West Germany between 1954 to 1970, scoring 33 goals but never won a World Cup. Germany’s women’s team has announced that it will play its Euro quarter-final against Austria on Thursday evening wearing black armbands.