‘Messi’ – Odegaard describes 27-year-old Arsenal star in one word | OneFootball

Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard has described Ukraine international star Oleksandr Zinchenko as ‘Messi’ when asked to use one word to describe his teammates at the North London club.

The Norwegian international called Gabriel Magalhaes a beast, Bukayo Saka starboy, Declan Rice a machine, before using ‘speed’ to describe Gabriel Martinelli, ‘strong’ for Eddie Nketiah, ‘banter’ for Aaron Ramsdale and ‘Rolls Royce’ for William Saliba.

He called Leandro Trossard ‘baller’, Jorginho ‘Master’, before praising David Raya for his clean sheets and Reiss Nelson for his technique.

He called Kai Havertz ‘goal’ and had no words to describe Zinchenko than to call him Messi.

Not everyone will understand why the Arsenal star dubbed the left-back Messi, but those that are aware of the technical abilities of the former Manchester City star will not be surprised.

His former teammate Kyle Walker rated Zinchenko better than the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Joao Cancelo, claiming he is incredible and so, so good when he was asked which players stood out the most in training, especially in Pep Guardiola’s famous keep-ball sessions.

The Ukrainian has not been impressive defensively since joining Arsenal, but he remains a key player for them.

Zinchenko has been linked with a summer exit, with many expecting the Gunners to sell him following the arrival of Riccardo Calafiori.

However, he has changed his squad number from 35 to 17 – previously worn by Cedric Soares – which makes it almost certain that he will remain an Arsenal player beyond this summer.

He has just two years remaining on his contract and could move on by next summer if he has not convinced manager Mikel Arteta that he deserves an extension by then.