Arsenal have been linked with a move for highly-rated Benfica winger Andrija Zivkovic. The 21-year-old has been in impressive form this season for the Portuguese outfit and has played 17 games already. The latest reports have suggested that Arsenal have kept their eye on the Serbian ever since his playing days at Partizan Belgrade.
The Gunners had sent their scouts to track the development of the player not only at Partizan but also at the u-21 European Championship last year at Poland. It now seems the scouts have reported on the positive with Arsenal ready to make him the first of many signings next year to mount a title challenge.
Andrija Zivkovic has had an exciting start to his footballing career when he became the youngest player ever to debut for Serbia. He was also the youngest man to captain Partizan and was an integral member of the highly talented u20 Serbian squad which won the FIFA U20 World Cup in 2015.
It now seems Wenger and company are ready to bring him in to add further firepower to their final third. The January transfer window began with a lot of nerves for Arsenal fans who were waiting for the impending doom with the inevitable departure of Alexis Sanchez. The Chilean who had been extremely unimpressive in the first half of the season finally got his wish and left for domestic rivals Manchester United.
However, the Gunners board pulled off the best deal for Sanchez by agreeing on a deal with Manchester United to have Sanchez swapped for Henrik Mkhitaryan. The former Borussia Dortmund winger is an excellent creative player but had fallen down the pecking order in Mourinho’s hard-hitting style of play.
He was soon joined by Gabon international Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on the transfer deadline day for a record club deal. The former Dortmund striker’s arrival means that the Gunners have an enviable line-up which was further sweetened with Mesut Ozil signing a lengthy extension on his contract.
The club now has two world-class strikers and creative wingers who can are master of link-up play in Mkhitaryan and Ozil. However, with the departure of Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, they lack the pace needed on the wings. Andrija Zivkovic could just be the man to provide the natural width and pace out wide. He would be the perfect foil to Ozil and Mkhitaryan in the three slots behind the striker and with Wenger’s reputation to develop young talent, the Serbian would know that he is in very good hands.
