Real Madrid remain a significant threat to Arsenal in the race to add Martin Zubimendi to the Gunners’ squad this summer. The Spanish midfielder is widely regarded as one of the finest in Europe, which explains the strong interest he has attracted from top clubs across the continent.
Zubimendi is currently at Real Sociedad and turned down a lucrative offer from Liverpool last summer. Arsenal have been working on securing his signature since January, and the player is reportedly open to the move. However, a transfer is not yet certain, as other elite sides are also pursuing him.
Real Madrid have been among his key suitors over the past several months, and the appointment of Xabi Alonso is believed to provide them with a considerable advantage in convincing the midfielder to stay in Spain. The Madrid club are keen to strengthen their squad, and Zubimendi fits the profile they are seeking.
Madrid’s Influence Complicates Arsenal’s Plans
Reports in Spain suggest that Real Madrid could still hijack Arsenal’s move for the midfielder. As reported by Football London, the Gunners will turn to Youri Tielemans if that happens. The Aston Villa player has long been linked with a move to the Emirates, and this summer may finally present the opportunity for that transfer to take place.
Tielemans has a wealth of Premier League experience and is viewed as someone who could make an immediate impact at Arsenal. His technical ability and familiarity with the demands of English football make him an appealing alternative should the club fail to secure Zubimendi.
Arsenal Monitoring Midfield Alternatives
While Zubimendi remains the preferred target, Arsenal are clearly making preparations in case their pursuit is unsuccessful. Tielemans offers a proven option within the league and represents a player who could integrate quickly into Mikel Arteta’s system. With Real Madrid still in contention, Arsenal may be forced to make a swift decision as the transfer window progresses.
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What kind of a joke is this.
The fly in the ointment is Real Madrid and a real problem for Arsenal to het over. IF Zubimendi joins Real over us, IF, then Tielemans will not be his replacement. Tielemans would be bought for a different role completely. Arteta is a fan, and he has shown interest before, but a lot would have to happen at Arsenal for us to buy Tielemans.
Fabrizio Romano is still insisting that Zubimendi will eventually be an Arsenal player; that everything has been “agreed” to that effect.
Zubimendi is a fantastic player, but I’m sure Arsenal can find a suitable replacement (not Tielemeans) for him if we do miss out.
I hope we get Zubimendi. If we fail, Arteta would be made to realise that there is life outside Spain!
Understand there’s lots of potential for twists and turns in these transfer windows and REAL will be more than happy to scupper all ideas we have of adding quality to a gifted midfield like ours.
Its out of our hands if a player (Zubi) is waiting for a stab at becoming a Galctico. The longer we are associated with being ‘…trophy shy’ is the more we can expect players to have angles like Zubimendi appears to have at this juncture.
To be honest Real Madrid are quite unique. It does not matter if you are Man City, Liverpool, Bayern, Man Liverpool, Man United, Chelsea, Arsenal or any other club outside of Spain or Barcelona.
If Madrid want a given player they will get that player one way or another. Recently Madrid flattered their eyelashes Trent Arnold’s way and he dropped everything ( left Liverpool).
And Zubimendi is quite a character he had turned Arsenal and Liverpool down in recent seasons in order to stay in Spain.
There is no evidende that us being “Trophy Shy” has impacted us in the last 3 seasons. We seem to get 90% of the targets we want. Declan Rice turned down Man City because his heart was already set on playing for Arteta / Arsenal. Calafiori turned down the big Italian clubs (Juventus, AC and Inter Milan for us.
Timber, Havertz etc all joined.
All our main players keep renewing their contracts when needed etc..
There is no evidence to suggest players keep turning down Arsenal in recent times because we are “Trophy Shy” under Arteta. It’s been quite the opposite in general.
A club can’t get each and every player they want all the time. Some will join and other might not etc. May be only Madrid can get whoever they want..
😊
I’ve said before that no club gets all the players they want, including Madrid.
Alphonso Davies was in Arnold’s exact situation. He was only few months from moving to the “cemetery of talents” (as a certain poster always calls them) for free but signed a new contract with Bayern.
How about Leny Yoro? Money spoke and he moved to United.
Bro, if Madrid really wanted Yolo they would have gotten him. And give it a few season of him performing to his potential. If Madrid come in for him he will jump.
You can find 1% of 100% that turn down Madrid. But that’s a very negligible / anomaly. And I have not looked into the Aphonso Davis thing. But were Madrid really in for him? Did they make it clear that he was a player that they wanted or they were just rumours / gossip?
It’s Madrid that can go to any club in the world and sign their star players. It’s hardly the other way around.
Madrid have this pull that just mesmerises every player..
@Goonster / Thanks for the follow-up 🙂
I understand completely. Iv only now seen your follow up. *Historically i believe that our trophy cabinet is looking healthy when compared to most the other premiership & european sides.
My Caveat: I believe our biggest rivals employ a tactic whenever encouraging players to choose signing for them, ie Lpool, citeh, man utd, Che and spurs all REVEL in the fact its taking so long for us to back up our elite club status with cups.
AFC don’t lack trophies we know: leagues & FAC honors but its not inconceivable that in addition to the lure of cash incentives (…think CHELSEA..) our rivals use the fact we are shown on paper to be ‘trophy shy’ by comparison. Said just to lure players to choose them rather us. Its something i’m hoping Arteta puts right sooner than later.
Im here living in London – Yes it would be naive to think we can entice every talent. My point is we can do much better far as attracting players as soon as we return to winning silverware.
@Waal2waal.
I get all that you are saying about winning trophies. We all want to be winning the big trophies (EPL and CL). But I am yet to be shown evidence that we are struggling to attract The calibre of players that we need / want.
Can you tell me what player you think we couldn’t entice or attract that the likes of Liverpool, Man City, Man United, Chelsea, Spurs etc could?
I just don’t understand how you came to the conclusion that us being “Trophy Shy” has affected us in the last 3 seasons. Because there isn’t a single player that Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea, Man United etc can attract that we ourself can’t attract currently.
Before the 202/23 season I can 100% agree with you on that point that we weren’t attractive to many top name players. But since the 2022/23 season we have been very attractive to most players. Hence why nowadays we always seem to get the players we want in general.
We are as attractive as the likes of Liverpool and Man City that have won the league recently.
So I don’t see where the “Trophy Shy” claim applies to day.
That’s all. 👍😊
My suggestion (respectfully) “Trophy shy” is meant to address the fact that too often, for whatever reason, we’ve fallen short of winning titles and silverware. This is settled ground and without dispute. Recently as last season that Newcastle side put a spanner in the works and stopped us in the cup competition and though we showed we could beat PSG we fell short when it really mattered – not a criticism. We’ve hit 2 or 3 blancs when vying for the eng premier league titles and fallen off when nailed on to secure points when rivals are dropping points in title run-ins.
That we appear “Title shy” is a way to describe how we can drop OFF: lose the plot OR how all the other big guns do not have this issue of hitting a brick wall at the business end when it counts. We are striving for ‘consistency’. L’pool, Chelsea & both Manchester clubs have shown in recent times to have that determine and grit.
Rooney, Suarez, van Persie, Alexi Sanches, Cole all side stepped us endeavoring more honors. Mbappe, J Vardy, Yaya Toure, Lukaku, Raphinha were courted to come to us but didn’t. AND so lets see how *Rodrygo and how Williams unfold.
On top of offering more millions than us, that we are “Trophy shy” is always a ploy to be said in any real negotiations (or banter) in order to swing big name players to side with our rivals.
The Solution: AFC must do better and return to our winning ways.
@waal2waal.
But that’s not what you were arguing in your original post that I replied to.
THIS IS WHAT YOU WROTE:
“Its out of our hands if a player (Zubi) is waiting for a stab at becoming a Galctico. The longer we are associated with being ‘…trophy shy’ is the more we can expect players to have angles like Zubimendi appears to have at this juncture..”
You insinuated that Zubi to Madrid rumour was due to us being “Trophy Shy”. You insinuated that Zubimendi is thinking this, hence why he is waiting for Madrid.
That why I replied by stating that Madrid are a completely different animal. It’s not only Arsenal that can suffer from Madrid’s pull.
So you seemed to use this Zubimendi to Madrid rumour as some reason to state that our lack of Trophies (Trophy Shy) is the reason he is waiting or Madrid.
Hence why I asked you to enlighten me to a situation in the last three seasons where a player we were after rejected us due to our trophy shyness.
I said that if it’s true that Zubi has been turned by Madrid interest then we can’t be too surprised as that’s what Madrid does. They are the biggest pull for players. It does not matter if you are C.Ronaldo at Man United, Hazard at Chelsea, Kroos at Bayern, Mbappe at PSG, Trent Arnold at Liverpool. Modric / Bale at Spurs, Huijsen at Bournemouth, Zubimendi etc. If Madrid come calling it normally does not matter, the player will get flattered and unsettled.
But away from Madrid. We have no Evidence currently that players don’t want to join us due to our lack of trophies. It seems to be the opposite. Once Arteta shows proper interest in a player that players seems to drop their pants for him (Read what Timber, Calafiori, Rice and Havertz etc) all said after Arteta spoke to them.
And I never disputed that we found it hard to attract players before 2022/23. You and me agree. The likes of RVP, Cesc, Rooney, Sanchez, Suarez, Cole etc side stepped us because we were not showing any shred of ambition back then. They left because we has become a “Top 4 is like a Trophy club”. Buy young or Cheap and sell them off in their primes kind of model.
But I am talking about today. Zubimendi rejected Liverpool last summer too. So as I said, Zubimendi seems like a special case / character. He rejected us in the January window of 2022/23 season that we bought Kiwior in. He then went on to reject Liverpool last summer 2024. He seems to be like the late Reyes. He prefers Spain..
Again, there is no evidence to suggest that our lack of trophies has impacted us as a club in the last 2 seasons. And Zubimendi has not said anything about trophies being the reason he is rejecting Arsenal for Madrid.
That’s all..
👍
@Goonster – Thanks for the reply.
If it reads that I am arguing that’s not intended.
I simply add my thoughts as a Snr Supporter who has enjoyed the team in its pomp. I sense young guns can get agitated at not witnessing success and its understandable. Iv shown why I think Zubi may be angling for a REAL Madrid move because this is what players sometimes do ie they can use arsenal interest to enhance wages where they’re at or angle for a move to a bigger team of their choice.
Real are not the only team with ‘a pull’ either, ordinarily you can include big pockets (chelski), the two big Manchester clubs (esp Man Utd, tho admittedly not at this point) and Liverpool too. We are all big brands right? but these are more decorated than we are lately – hence we are shown to lack the evidence of success, we have nothing to show for our efforts => “Trophy Shy”.
You don’t have to like or agree with it 🙂 but you can do better to understand the reasoning. Its simply my PoV. Remember its okay for us to all have slightly different views – essentially we are both on the same side.
I just mentioned players iv seen during my time supporting to provide not argument but merely a snapshot of players that we sort or contracted but they opted to go elsewhere. I didn’t say that you disputed these players did I? You inferred it.
In the earlier Wenger’s tenure id agree players chose us to win titles and cups it was a period when our football was exquisite.
Yeah NEW players may well sense we’re able to provide them with silverware BUT until we can show it they are ‘open’ to look us over for those [spaces] where the trophy winning habit is not often found lacking. Those [spaces] are usually tho not invariably found up in the north-west of England where we are all aware there is also a huge pull for quality footballers.
End 🙂
@wasl2waal
I think we are talking past each other here.
I’ve been specifically addressing and keep addressing your:
*** “Its out of our hands if a player (Zubi) is waiting for a stab at becoming a Galctico. The longer we are associated with being ‘…trophy shy’ is the more we can expect players to have angles like Zubimendi appears to have at this juncture..”****
More especially this bit:
**“The longer we are associated with being ‘…trophy shy’ is the more we can expect players to have angles like Zubimendi appears to have at this juncture..”****
Because there is also no evidence to suggest that Zubimendi has taken any angles away from at this juncture.
And I know thar Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City and Man United also have pull. But they don’t have the pull of MADRID. I will ask you a question. Can any of those club ever point to any Madrid superstar and unsettle him? For example: Does any of those clubs have the pull to point at Mbappe, Vinicius Jr etc entice any of them away from Madrid? Most clubs can only entice unwanted Madrid players away from Madrid.
Anyways. We are going to Agree to Disagree on this.
All the best.
😊👍
ill agree Real Madrid are one of the bigger clubs in the world football and that they’re able to turn the eye of most but not all the best players. Their European winners caliber is testimony to this. None of the teams you mentioned see reason to unsettle Madrid players being as they comprise the best of players other than Real Madrid’s for the reason they can still compete in Europe.
Seems to be your opinion is R Madrid is the sole and stand alone pinnacle or elite for all football players? I don’t see that’s the case. You see as I was growing english clubs liverpool and man U Chelsea and Arsenal possessed that ‘superstar’ status you’re alluding to. But we wasn’t born identifying or supporting such commercialized type(s) of football – im a 60s lad 🙂 the superstar players ate in our restaurants and we could mind their sports cars for money. Likelihood is our view of football players comes from totally different perspectives, evidently our outlook is from two different times.
I hope not. He is definitely not a number 6 to replace / compete with Partey. His best position is central midfield and not the level we should be striving for.
Can’t believe that Arsenal is waiting for some other club & a player on their wish list to decide between them selves first. Why buy such player.. I guess there is something else going on with this case. Maybe Arsenal have already decided not to buy him or decide on two attacking players first & depending on money left then either buy Zubimendi or go for a cheaper MF player?
I heard its all about finances. Sociedad want the transfer to go on next years books
Zubimendi to Arsenal is probably a done deal, Romano even said ”Here we go”, right? Hopefully just lazy journalism from Madrid media, based on Xabi Alonsos connection to Real Sociedad. And Real Madrid have Tchouameni in that position, the same kind of player, so if true lets sign him to Arsenal instead!
I agree.
The advantage we have is that we can offer him the role he wants in the side. We are also offering him the salary he wants
Real Madrid are dithering. If they were really keen then they would have moved for him before.
Tielemans is a very good midfielder, better for villa than I was expecting tbh, but he’s a very different type of midfielder to zubi – good as a box to box, but particularly in attack. I think he has the skills to play as a 6, but I doubt he has the right mindset to play there for a top team, where you want someone who’s extremely consistent and able to keep the ball always. Tielemans would probably have some great games in that role, but would also get exposed quite often. I wouldn’t be against signing him as another midfield option, but I imagine his role in the squad would be similar to Merino’s, which might make it redundant. That said, he could be better cover for an odegaard injury tbf.
That’s about right. Could’ve picked up Tielemans for free before he joined but choosing instead to spend window after window covering a player who clearly doesn’t want to join.
I have more respect for Vlahovic, who at least just came out and said he wasn’t interested. Zubimendi wants Real Madrid, so we should just let them have him because his heart will never be at Arsenal.
Football is very fickle. Odegaard was the next best teenager when he went to Real Madrid and he joined the cemetery of talents. Who’s to say that Zubimendi wants to go or is really wanted by RM?
So much speculation and unsubstantiated opinions are being spread by pundits and journalists alike that the water becomes really muddied.
Can you name the youngster’s at Arsenal that have done what
Ramos , Verane , Bellingham, Rodrigo, V Junior have done ( just to name a few )
You have hit the nail on the head Sue.Who knows what has been going on behind closed doors?
I’ve always had the feeling, that Zubimendi will never come to Arsenal, as long as there’s just a small chance that Real Madrid will sign him. His big dream is and will remain Real Madrid, I think.
That’s arsenal for you. They raise your hopes then dash it on the ground. Too much talk , no action
I don’t recall Zubimendi saying anything about either The Arsenal or Real Madrid with reference to a transfer this summer.
All the noise is coming from the media and, I suspect, Real Madrid, who are notorious for unsettling other club’s players.
Neither has there been anything official from our club, as we continue to uphold our great tradition of only reacting when the deal is officially signed.
The latest rumour is that The Arsenal have agreed to pay an extra £4 million in order to pay by instalments and that the deal will be announced in July.
My opinion, for what it’s worth, is that we will sign him, but as there’s nothing I can do about it, I’ll sit back and see how many more players we’re linked too!!
Are we really being connected with Tielemans again. If we we’re ever to have gone for him it should have been in his Leicester days, not now. Surely that ship has sailed, hasn’t it?🤦♂️.