Zinchenko rates Arsenal's Partey over Man City's Rodri and Utd's Casemiro

Leila Mermelstein 9 months ago 6.2k |

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Oleksandr Zinchenko has praised Thomas Partey. AFP

Arsenal defender Oleksandr Zinchenko has backed his new teammate Thomas Partey as a better midfielder than both Man United's Casemiro and Man City's Rodri. The Ukrainian went as far as to call the Ghanaian "the best holding midfielder" he's ever played with.

Arsenal's Oleksandr Zinchenko is not afraid to cause a stir it seems. The Ukrainian defender has snubbed the likes of Casemiro, Rodri and even Fernandinho to call his Gunners teammate "the best holding midfielder I have ever played with".

The 26-year-old was asked by former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand if he believed Casemiro was better than Arsenal's own Ghana international, to which Zinchenko replied: "I don’t want to say something bad. Casemiro is a world class player, five Champions Leagues. But if I had to choose, it would be Partey".

"I had the debate in my head, who is the best holding midfielder I have ever played with – it was between Fernandinho, Rodri and Partey", he continued on Ferdinand's 'FIVE' Youtube channel. "It is a tough one. I watched Fernandinho when he was at Shakhtar and he helped me so much. I love him like an older brother.”

Partey, who was Mikel Arteta's first big signing at Emirates, joined the Premier League club in 2020 from Atletico Madrid for €50 million and has since become a mainstay for the Spanish manager since then, making over 100 appearances for the club across all competitions.

The midfielder, who Zinchenko believes "has everything", has been playing a new position this season, with Arteta putting him in as an inverted right-back in the opening three fixtures - and it remains to be seen how he'll fare when he faces Casemiro and the Red Devils on Sunday as the old rivals face each other once again.