The French club Marseille has activated negotiations with London's Arsenal regarding the purchase of Alexander Zinchenko. However, the defender's transfer could be disrupted by the fans of the "Olympians".
Alexander ZinchenkoMarseille's head coach Roberto De Zerbi, who previously led Shakhtar, is personally interested in Zinchenko's transfer. There are several obstacles to finalizing the transfer.
Firstly, the high salary of the Arsenal defender is an issue. However, this matter can be resolved by the clubs during negotiations. On the other hand, handling the fans' protests will be more challenging.
The thing is, Marseille fans, a significant portion of whom are Muslims, disapprove of Zinchenko's political views. In the fall of 2023, Alexander supported Israel during the Hamas terrorist attacks. At that time, the Arsenal player faced a wave of criticism from Arabs and was forced to delete his post.
Representatives of the Arab community in France have not forgotten about Zinchenko’s action. They created the hashtag zinchenkonotwelcome on social media, which went viral.
Supporters of Palestinian independence are posting the flag of this partially recognized state and attaching the hashtag. This is how they are protesting against the Ukrainian moving to Marseille.
There are about 200,000 Muslims living in Marseille. This is the city's second-largest community. It is made up mainly of people from Arab countries, including Algeria and Morocco. Additionally, Marseille has many fans throughout France.
It should be noted that in the past season, due to injuries and costly mistakes, Zinchenko lost his place in Arsenal's starting lineup. The head coach of Arsenal, Mikel Arteta, mostly kept the player on the bench.
