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Arsenal officially agree €60m deal
Arsenal have won the race to sign Real Sociedad midfielder Martin Zubimendi, confirms transfer expert Fabrizio Romano. Romano revealed that Arsenal has agreed a verbal agreement with the player on a long term deal, with the final step now to trigger his €60m release clause.
Zubimendi is set to become Arsenal’s first signing of the summer and joins former Sociedad teammates Mikel Merino and Martin Odegaard at the club. The 26 year old Spain international played a starring role in his country’s 2024 Euro success, anchoring the midfield and winning possession back for his side.
Zubimendi has a reputation for being calm and composed on the ball, extremely intelligent in his positioning and awareness, and possessing excellent passing ability. These traits earned the player “world class” status according to another former teammate of his – Kieran Tierney. Tierney spent the 2023-2024 season on loan at Sociedad and last year spoke to the Guardian, saying:
“You have world-class players like [Martín] Zubimendi, [Mikel] Merino, Brais [Méndez].”
“It’s not that people don’t think they’re good; it’s just that if you’re only watching the Premier League every week, it’s hard to know. They’re world class, and for so many to come from the academy is incredible.”
Zubimendi Premier League bound
The player has drawn comparisons to Spain great Sergio Busquets for this technical ability and ability to protect his backline. He’s been a mainstay in the Sociedad midfield after climbing through the youth ranks. He broke into the first team in 2018 and has so far made 178 La Liga appearances.
Fabrizio Romano in a separate post on X, said the player is focused on giving his all for Sociedad until the end of the season, while Arsenal will complete the formal steps of the deal in the coming weeks.
News of the deal won’t come as a surprise to many, with Arsenal said to have been working on this deal for the better part of a year. Reports last summer named Zubimendi the top midfield target to replace either Thomas Partey or Jorginho – both out of contract at the end of the season – and it seems Arteta has now landed his man.
Jorginho has since agreed to join Flamengo, while Thomas Partey has entered talks to extend his deal.
Zubimendi is expected to compete with Partey for the holding midfield position behind Rice and Odegaard in Arteta’s set up. As he is five years Partey’s junior, he is seen as a long term solution even if he doesn’t usurp the Ghanian right away.
He offers a slightly different style of play to Partey and could even line up alongside him in some fixtures. Zubimendi will look to spread the ball wide in transition, bypassing the opposition’s midfield, while Partey prefers to link shorter passes through the lines of the opponent. This could add some much needed variation to Arsenal’s attack.
