The former City duo have been crucial for Mikel Arteta's table-toppers, but that doesn't mean it wasn't the correct call to let them go in 2022

At a number of points this season, Manchester City's decision to sell Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko to Arsenal looked like a fatal miscalculation. When City decided to move both players on in the summer and the Gunners came in with attractive offers, no one at the club could have imagined that Mikel Arteta's side would become title contenders the next season.

Little did Pep Guardiola and the City board know it, but they were fuelling their greatest rivals for the Premier League crown.

The striker and left-back have been among Arsenal's two most important players in their surprise title bid, and both will line up in Wednesday's title showdown at the Etihad Stadium.

If they can inspire Arsenal to victory and send them eight points clear at the top of the table, City are likely to be criticised for gifting the Gunners two of their most influential players.

But whatever happens on Wednesday and at the end of the season, City were right to let the players leave.

GettyClinical Jesus, influential Zinchenko

It cannot be denied that Jesus and Zinchenko have turned Arsenal from a good team into a great one, an "unstoppable" side as Guardiola dubbed them ahead of Wednesday's match.

While Jesus was struggling to get into the City team even before the arrival of Erling Haaland, he has proved to be the perfect striker for Arteta. He has been mostly clinical when he has been on the pitch, scoring nine goals and contributing five assists in only 18 league starts.

But he has also managed to link Arsenal's attack superbly, getting the best out of fellow forwards Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka, the team's leading scorers.

Zinchenko has also struggled with injuries, making only 23 starts, but he has had a huge influence on the team both on and off the pitch.

The Ukrainian believed Arsenal were capable of a title charge at the start of the season, and his team-mates laughed at the thought until he was proved right following the team's blistering first half of campaign, in which they took 50 points from their first 19 matches.

It is tempting to conclude that he developed his winning mentality while at City, where he lifted four Premier League titles, four League Cups, one FA Cup and reached the Champions League final.

AdvertisementGettySelling Sterling was also a risk

It is tempting to say, with hindsight, that it was foolish to give a direct rival like Arsenal two valuable players with title-winning experience.

However, this is not the only time they have sold an important player to a fellow competitor. Last summer, they also sold Raheem Sterling to Chelsea.

At the time, before Todd Boehly started sacking managers for fun and buying every player under the sun, Chelsea looked like more of a threat than Arsenal and Sterling had just finished the season with 13 goals for City.

City also took a risk when they sent Joao Cancelo on loan to Bayern Munich in January, and could have ended up rueing that move when they were paired with the Bundesliga side in the Champions League quarter-finals.

In the end, City comfortably beat Bayern 4-1 on aggregate and Cancelo was benched for the first leg.

The truth is, whenever you sell a player, you risk living to regret it if they go on to succeed in their new team.

Getty ImagesSell to a Premier League side or sell to no one

City also had little choice but to sell Zinchenko and Jesus to a top Premier League side given the growing financial might of the English top-flight in comparison to other leagues in Europe, which are still feeling the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Barcelona, who had bought Ferran Torres off City for £46 million in January 2022, had to perform a series of financial manoeuvres to finance their lavish spending in 2022.

Real Madrid spent a total of £70m on Aurelien Tchouameni last summer, while their only other major signing, Antonio Rudiger, arrived on a free transfer.

Atletico Madrid, the third force in Spain, spent under £25m last summer.

Arsenal, though, were able to offer £50m for Jesus and £30m for Zinchenko. That is equivalent to Juventus' total transfer budget last summer and far more than AC Milan, Inter and Napoli spent.

If City wanted to make any money from Zinchenko, Jesus and Sterling, they had to sell them to a competitor.

GettyIn profit despite signing Haaland

City took the gamble of strengthening Chelsea and Arsenal, and as a result managed to end the summer in profit, despite doing some eye-catching spending of their own.

They brought in £143m through the sales of Sterling, Zinchenko and Jesus, plus Pedro Porro.

That windfall allowed them to spend £51m on Erling Haaland, plus a reported weekly salary of £865,000.

They spent a further £42m on Kalvin Phillips, while also adding Manuel Akanji and Sergio Gomez to their squad for a combined £26m, all without having to worry about breaking UEFA's financial fair play rules down the line.

For a club with one of the richest owners in football, City managed to balance the books while improving their squad.

Strengthening Arsenal was a small price to pay for an outstanding summer of business.