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. However, the latest reports have suggested that Arsenal and Manchester United 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 is ready to bring him in to add further firepower to their final third. However, he is likely to face stern competition in the form of Jose Mourinho. Andrija Zivkovic could just be the man to provide the natural width and pace out wide with the other three wingers Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Alexis Sanchez all preferring to cut in.
However, Mourinho has been adamant in the press that he does not need an attacking player. The Red Devils’ boss has certainly ruled out any further signings in the final third.
“That’s the point, that’s the objective. The objective is now that we have only one No 9 – apart from Zlatan and let’s forget about Zlatan for the moment – we have only one No 9 and by having one No 9, now we have more No 9s.”
“We have Alexis, Lukaku, Martial, Rashford,” the United manager explained. “Rashford can play on the left and the right, Alexis is exactly the same. All of them apart from Lukaku can play from behind as the second striker.
“That’s why I say that it’s bad for you because you like to have things to write and speculate, especially in the summer, but I don’t want attacking players so don’t speak about attacking players that are coming here because nobody is coming here.”
“We have Mata, Lukaku, Rashford, Martial, Alexis, I don’t want attacking players,” he insisted. “Speculation in the summer you have to go to other areas, attacking players I am really happy.
This would mean that any rumour of Zivkovic moving to Manchester United should be treated with casual care for now and certainly not taken seriously as such a move is unlikely to take place in the near future.
