admits he knew very little about William Saliba before joining Arsenal but was completely blown away by the defender after just one training session with the club.
The captain joined Arsenal in a £35million deal from last summer.
The 26-year-old had a close relationship with Mikel Arteta during his time at the Etihad, and he opted to follow City team-mate Gabriel Jesus to the capital.
Zinchenko added leadership to Arsenal’s defence but it was the return of Saliba – who had spent the three previous seasons on loan – that turned the back four into a formidable unit.
And Zinchenko admits that, despite knowing little about the Frenchman before joining, it took just one training session to realise he was a special talent.
‘Rolls-Royce. So good, I love him so much,’ Zinchenko told the FIVE YouTube channel.
‘I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t know him before I came to Arsenal when I saw him from the training sessions, I said: ‘who is this guy?’.
‘Then first game against , , zero mistakes. This guy never makes mistakes. Then he scored the goal with the left foot against . I went to my knees because I said this guy. I said, this guy, he can do everything. He can do everything.’
Saliba missed the final two months of the season, which coincided with Arsenal’s title bid collapsing.
The Frenchman struggled with a back injury, which was originally due to keep him out for around two weeks but stretched to around nine.
The defender ended speculation over his future earlier this summer by signing a new five-year deal with the Gunners.
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