Former Arsenal defender William Gallas claims Oleksandr Zinchenko is no longer required at the club ahead of the new season.

Zinchenko signed for the London club in 2022 from Manchester City in a £30million deal and became the starting left-back at the Emirates Stadium. However, the Ukrainian has often been overlooked in recent times for other full-back options, such as Takehiro Tomiyasu and Jakub Kiwior.

Ex-Arsenal star Gallas is now of the opinion that incoming player Riccardo Calafiori could be Zinchenko’s permanent replacement in the left-back position, and he could be set to leave the Gunners this summer.

With reports stating that Calafiori is booked in for a medical ahead of a proposed £42m move to Arsenal, it appears that Zinchenko will be under more pressure for the left-back slot in the new season. Due to this, the 27-year-old could opt for a move away from London and Gallas believes this may happen due to his failure to rise to big occasions for the club.

He told Gambling Zone: “I think Zinchenko had similar problems when he was at Manchester City.

“If you can remember, I don’t think that he played in that many of their big games because Pep Guardiola thought that his defensive ability was limited.