Manchester City may be forced to look for an heir to Fernandinho this summer should the Brazilian depart, but Oleksandr Zinchenko could step up as his replacement in Pep Guardiola's side.

Whilst reports have suggested that Fernandinho will sign a new one-year contract at the Etihad, an official announcement is yet to have been made, and his contract is set to expire at the end of the month.

At 36, City will still have to look for a long-term replacement for the former Shakhtar Donetsk man even if he does extend his stay for another year, as Rodri cannot be expected to be City's only defensive-minded midfielder across a whole season, so it seems clear that City will need another player who can feature there on a regular basis.

However, the Euro 2020 match between the Netherlands and Ukraine at the weekend emphasised that City may well be able to call upon Zinchenko to step up as Fernandinho's replacement when he does eventually depart the club.

The 24-year-old, who has featured predominantly as a left-back during his time with City, produced a solid display in central midfield for his country, earning a 7.2/10 rating for his performance from SofaScore.

During the 90 minutes, Zinchenko would impressively win 12 duels and eight tackles, which was more than any other player on the pitch from both sides.

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After helping Ukraine to come back from 2-0 down to make it 2-2, he was caught out at the back post for the Netherlands' winning goal, with Denzel Dumfries beating him to a header to make it 3-2, which also perhaps emphasised his vulnerability as a left-back.

Across his 20 appearances in the Premier League last season, the Ukrainian would average just 1.3 tackles per game, which suggests that he can be far more effective in a midfield role.

During his time at City, the "incredible" Zinchenko has been given very few opportunities to impress in midfield and has instead found himself competing with Joao Cancelo and Benjamin Mendy to be City's first-choice left-back.

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If City were to bring in a left-back, such as Nuno Mendes, in the summer transfer window, then perhaps we could see Zinchenko feature further forward in Guardiola's side next season, as his excellent battling performance against the Netherlands certainly suggests he could fill in as and when Fernandinho leaves.

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