“I warned Zinchenko that this jersey number is very heavy,” said the former Arsenal defender

Former Arsenal defender Cedric Soares jokingly explained the problems this season of his former teammate, Ukrainian Oleksandr Zinchenko.

Cedric Soares

In a conversation with The Athletic, Cedric recently shared that the Ukrainian left-back asked for permission to take his old shirt number.

“It was funny, Zinny called me at the start of the season and said: ‘Brother, can I take your jersey number (17th, — note by the editor)?”.

I said: ‘Of course, but be careful because that number is very heavy!’.

This season he hasn’t played much due to injuries, so when I saw him, I said: ‘I already warned you that it’s heavy!’. Zinny is really a good guy, so he loves to joke,” Soares told The Athletic.

In the current season, Zinchenko has only participated in 9 matches for Arsenal and has yet to register any goal contributions.