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La Liga side Real Betis have made a formal approach to Manchester City to take Ukrainian youngster Oleksandr Zinchenko on a season-long loan, and are trying to structure a deal that would give them the option to buy him.
That is according to Spanish media outlet Mundo Deportivo who reports that Betis valued the 21-year old at £12 million, and are hoping to make the payment in three tranches.
The versatile Ukrainian international joined City in 2016 from Russian side Ufa and, after a loan spell with PSV Eindhoven in the Eredivisie, managed to force his way into Pep Guardiola’s team last season, notching up eight Premier League appearances, mainly deputising at left-back for the injured Benjamin Mendy.
Zinchenko was linked with moves to both Wolves and Fulham during the English transfer window, but turned down all approaches then in order to try ad fight for his place at The Etihad. It will be interesting to see if he maintains that stance given the competition ahead of him for places at City.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.