Man Utd hijack: Ratcliffe eyes Arsenal target to replace Ten Hag signing who has ‘zero’ chance of staying

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·17 de janeiro de 2024

Man Utd hijack: Ratcliffe eyes Arsenal target to replace Ten Hag signing who has ‘zero’ chance of staying

Martin Zubimendi is linked with a move to Premier League.

According to reports, Arsenal ‘face competition’ from Premier League rivals Manchester United in the race to sign Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad.

Vídeos OneFootball

Zubimendi has been heavily linked with Arsenal and Barcelona over the past year following the 24-year-old’s emergence as one of the best defensive midfielders in La Liga.

Zubimendi as the “perfect midfielder” who would be ideal for Arsenal.

“We’ve had a lot of stories about Arsenal and different midfielders in recent times, with big names like Douglas Luiz, Amadou Onana and Martin Zubimendi linked with the Gunners. It looks difficult for a deal to happen this January, but we’ll see if the situation is different in the summer,” Romano said via his Caught Offside substack column.

“So, which of those players would be the best fit for Mikel Arteta’s side? My personal feeling is that Zubimendi would be fantastic, even if Onana and Douglas have the advantage of both already knowing the Premier League. Zubimendi is a fantastic player, he can help with his vision, quality and intelligence on the ball – he’s the perfect midfielder.

“Still, it’s important to say that he’s very happy at Real Sociedad, only focused on his club and he already rejected chances to leave in recent years as he always wanted to stay there.”

Available for around £51m due to the release clause in his contract, Zubimendi is an attractive option for clubs around Europe and journalist Dean Jones for SportsLens has revealed that ‘Arsenal will face competition from Man Utd to sign Zubimendi, but the player is putting all transfer talk on hold until the summer’.

Zubimendi is one of Arsenal’s ‘top targets’ but Man Utd are ‘also going to track his situation across the coming months’. The report adds.

‘The 24-year old is understood to be Arteta’s preferred target in midfield as he considers how to move forward. The Arsenal boss has also looked at the likes of Douglas Luiz and Amadou Onana. ‘United have big decisions to make on their midfield reshape. We told today how they are not planning to keep Sofyan Amrabat beyond this season and in line with that, Zubimendi is a player that is being monitored as a target for the summer window.’

Earlier this week, Jones indicated that Amrabat’s chances of earning a permanent Man Utd move are “pretty much zero”.

“Manchester United must be very relieved they do not have an obligation to buy Amrabat because the move has just not worked out at all, and they will cut ties on this one without any regrets,” Jones told GiveMeSport.

“It was such a protracted transfer and there was so much expectation around him fixing a major problem within the side, but we just have not seen that play out. As such, his chances of earning a permanent deal are pretty much zero.”