Manager CONFIRMS Arsenal signing will ‘take shape soon’

Ajax interim boss Fred Grim hopes to have Arsenal full-back Oleksandr Zinchenko available next week.

The Ukraine international has been on loan at Nottingham Forest since the summer transfer window, but it is widely expected that his time at the City Ground will be cut short.

Earlier this week, reports emerged that Arsenal and Ajax had opened talks over a deal for Zinchenko. Negotiations were expected to be quick, but it hasn’t quite turned out that way.

It was initially thought that Zinchenko would join the Amsterdam giants on loan until the summer, at which point his Arsenal contract would have expired. However, later reports suggested that the deal was to be renegotiated as a permanent move.

Since then, things have gone quiet. Dutch media reported on Friday that the talks hadn’t really progressed since the initial discussions, which prompted Ajax director Jordi Cruyff to make contact with Mikel Arteta, not just Andrea Berta.

Ajax boss hopeful of Zinchenko deal

However, Ajax interim head coach Fred Grim remains optimistic that the Eredivisie side will be able to snap up Zinchenko. He expects a breakthrough in the negotiations next week.

“I hope that [Zinchenko’s signing] will take shape soon,” he said. “At Ajax, we’re very busy strengthening our squad. We’re not in a position to make a big impact at the beginning of January.

“You’re dependent on the players’ choices. It will have to be finalised in the coming week. In my opinion, there are still some possibilities then.” Zinchenko has only made 10 appearances for Forest this season due to a combination of injuries and seemingly not being fancied by Sean Dyche.

At Ajax, Zinchenko would be reunited with a familiar face in Takehiro Tomiyasu, who was signed as a free agent in late 2025. The Japan international was released by Arsenal in the summer after a repeated injury issues.

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