This time a year ago, Oleksandr Zinchenko started the opening match of Arsenal of the 2024-25 season against Wolves.
He was involved in the construction of the opener of Kai Havertz and played in Bukayo Saka, who crossed the German international to score. When Zinchenko was replaced in the 69th minute for the applause too hot, he had no idea that he would be falling from the team the next week. Zinchenko would not start another Premier League match until December.
“In contrast to the previous year, injuries were not the fault,” Zinchenko writes in a new chapter for his updated autobiography, faith. “A small problem with my calf kept me out of operation outside of September. A knock here and there. But I was otherwise suitable for most of the campaign.”
In anticipation of the publication on 14 August, athletics can share extracts from the new chapter in which Zinchenko tackles his absence in the first team last season, the current conflict in his native Ukraine and the failure of Arsenal to lift silverware in 2024-25.
To overcome his earlier injury problems, Zinchenko collaborated with a specialist who designed a training program specifically to work on his difficult calf. “He did a few sessions with me and came up with a gym regime that it really sorted out,” writes the 28-year-old. “It made a huge difference.”
But despite his improved fitness record, Zinchenko noticed that he had regularly left the sidelines and only five of Arsenal's Premier League matches started last season.
“I was actually completely off the start XI, a few isolated competitions,” says Zinchenko. “In pure personal terms it was easy the worst season I have ever experienced as a professional.”
Hinchenko had previously been an integral part of Mikel Arteta's plans and was forced to struggle with a decreasing status within the team.
“A player who doesn't play is nothing,” he writes. 'It's one thing if your body abandons you. That can happen.
“But from one of the established players from the side to unused sub is much more difficult to deal with. The feeling of rejection that you feel if your manager no longer believes, you can get the filling out of you, even if you are the most resilient man on the planet.
“But every football player started playing because they like to play the game. Much of your life is missing without. Imagine that this little boy who has dedicated his whole life to become good in a certain thing and then finds that he is no longer needed, that there are others who can do the work for him. It is not a nice feeling.”
The most important reason for Zinchenko's omission was the arrival of new competition: in the summer of 2024, Arsenal spent £ 42 million ($ 54 million) to Italy International Riccardo Calafiori. Perhaps even more important, graduate Academy graduate Myles Lewis-Skelly quickly developed in a full-back from the first team.
“He came in and made the left position of him,” says Zinchenko of teenage Lewis-Skelly. “He is a special talent. Such a good player. What he has done is really incredible.”
Despite his inevitable disappointment, Zinchenko looked in every way to support Lewis-Skelly and said that he congratulated the teenager when he was first called to the senior senior senior side in March. “And I said to him:” You have everything. With your ability you will be at the highest level for the next 10 years or even more, you will be one of the best players in the world, not only in the club, but also in the national team. “
“I have heard stories about older players who resist young people to defend their territory, the kind of things you see in animal documentaries. I will never undermine a teammate of mine. I am not.”
Zinchenko framed the rise of Lewis-Skelly as a challenge to overcome.
“Yes, he plays in the same position as I do,” says Zinchenko. “But I still have to recognize his talent, applaud him and help him, if only in a small way, to reach his potential.
“He urges me to become a better version of myself and to further improve. These are the requirements at this level. If someone is better than you, you will drop. There is no option than to keep your head straight and look ahead.”
The Ukrainian playmaker is linked to a relocation of Arsenal this summer, but no transfer has been released for the time being. He has a year about his contract in North Londs and is open to the right chance – now or in 12 months as a free transfer.