Oleksandr Zinchenko is poised to agree a new five-year deal after his advisers arrived in Manchester earlier this week. The Manchester City left-back is expected miss Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Brighton at Wembley, having suffered a hamstring injury during the first-half of Wednesday night’s comfortable 2-0 Premier League victory over Cardiff City.
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That win returned Pep Guardiola’s team to the top of the table although Liverpool can again leapfrog them in the title race if they secure a victory on Friday at Southampton. Zinchenko is hoping his lay-off won’t see him miss the crucial weeks of the season but he could shortly celebrate putting pen to paper at the Etihad now until at least the summer of 2024.
It’s understood the Ukraine international’s camp has met in recent days with City’s director of football Txiki Begiristain and an announcement is imminent. Zinchenko’s new wages are expected to be around £70,000-per-week – a substantial upgrade for the 22-year-old – who turned down an £18m move to Wolverhampton Wanderers last summer.
Zinchenko has started City’s last six league games and Guardiola now sees the winger as his preferred left-back understudy option, having worked hard to learn what the demanding Catalan wants from him in that position.
