Zubimendi - The 'Rodri clone' who inspired Spain and attracted Arsenal

Graham Hunter reflects on how Martin Zubimendi's journey has brought Mikel Arteta the deep-lying midfielder he's long been searching for. 

Last summer when they defeated England to win Euro 2024, Spain watched the best footballer in the world limp off at half-time and everybody waited for them to slump.

Instead they surged and Rodri’s replacement, Martin Zubimendi, strolled through a dramatic second half during which La Roja scored twice, controlled the final and eventually lifted the trophy.

A couple of weeks later, I had the good fortune to interview Spain coach Luis de La Fuente about Zubimendi and I asked him how it had been so seamless for the Real Sociedad midfielder to step into the shoes of the man who was en route to winning the Ballon d’Or and shine.

"Because we’re lucky enough to have brought on, in my opinion, the second-best player in the world in that position and that’s Martin Zubimendi!" said De La Fuente.

"He’s another great footballer, with some of those same qualities that I like in Rodri – he’s like his clone. Of course, Martin has little nuances that make him him, but he can also balance out the game, find spaces, find solutions, and get back to defend the box.

"I’m very lucky to have the two best players in the world in that position at my disposal!"

Loyalty defined his path 

Now that Zubimendi, 26, has joined Arsenal, it becomes exceedingly clear that although De La Fuente’s powerful description of the Basque "pivote" as the second-best in the world in his position seemed eyebrow-raising at the time, his coach’s evaluation was by no means a solitary one.

Arsenal fans will undoubtedly be feeling schadenfreude that Arne Slot tried very hard indeed to buy Zubimendi last summer for Liverpool but now he belongs to the Gunners.

But that’s just a further indication that when De La Fuente, Slot and now Mikel Arteta are all mustard-keen on this elegant, articulate, determined man, then the fact that fans often see him as being a discrete presence in midfield doesn’t match what the experts analyse.

Just on that point about Liverpool, I know that it wasn’t so much that Zubimendi turned them down, but rather that he determinedly opted to stay with Real Sociedad.

Anyone who knows him understands that Zubimendi absolutely adores his ex-club, loved living in San Sebastian and, last summer, actively wanted to stay and help the Txuri Urdin to cope after key footballers like Robin Le Normand and Mikel Merino were all sold (the latter coincidentally to Arsenal).

This is a guy with a keen sense of loyalty.

In other words, last summer wasn’t so much a rejection for Liverpool but a declaration of love for the club which has encouraged and shaped Zubimendi and which, unequivocally, he supports.

At the time he said: "La Real is my life! I’ve spent half of it here! They’ve shaped me, developed me... this club is my life."

It definitely makes it all the more impressive that the Gunners have persuaded him that now is the time to move up into the UEFA Champions League with them, now is the time to make his first move out of Spain, and now is the time to try and opt for more trophies than the solitary one he’s lifted at club level: the 2020 Copa Del Rey in which he and Merino starred while La Real defeated their neighbours Athletic Club.

A Basque bond with Arteta

It’s an unusual anomaly that almost every single match in Zubimendi's senior career has been coached by a Basque. Basques come from the north of Spain, a territory which has its own unique language and extends, they claim, up into parts of southern France and which, evidence shows, breeds flinty-tough, competitive, honest, hard-working footballers.

Imanol Alguacil taught "Zubi" in the Real Sociedad junior teams, then, later, gave him his first-team debut, Xabi Alonso played maestro to Zubimendi’s apprentice at Real Sociedad B for a year and De La Fuente has coached the new Gunner at Under-21, Olympic and senior level.

Now it’s Arteta.

He and Zubimendi were born in San Sebastian, both played formative football on the vast, flat La Concha beach which hosts a dozen or more full-sized matches every time the tide goes right out. Both played for renowned formation club Antiguoko and both performed in midfield for La Real.

Destiny calling?

But one of Arteta’s team-mates in those youth development matches on La Concha beach, Alonso, plays a big part in this story.

Right to the end, the new Real Madrid coach was competing to sign Zubimendi - for good reason.

The 26-year-old told me about the importance Alonso has had in his development.

"I had a huge privilege that just when I was starting to break through into the main junior team Xabi was my coach, which, in combination between the playing level and his teaching talent, made it a very important year in my development," he said.

"I think that Xabi saw a possible 'project' in me and that enthused me hugely.

"The main thing he spent time with me on was tactics. When to press, what to do when being pressed, how to position myself - all depending on what type of rival we had.

"Xabi taught me how to impose 'my' game irrespective of who we were playing and how they played."

How he describes what Alonso taught him is a good vocation of what has brought Zubimendi to the attention of Slot, Arteta and Alonso (plus Xavi Hernandez who tried to buy him while in charge at Barcelona) in recent years.

What are Arsenal getting? 

I would caution that Arsenal fans should not be expecting a footballer who looks physically imposing, or one who will immediately feel or look like a standout Premier League midfielder in terms of what you can clip into highlight reels.

He won the ball back 140 times last season, won 60 per cent of his 282 duels and maintained a pass-accuracy rate of 85 per cent in a season when La Real were bedevilled by injuries, tiredness, the absence of star players, new signings not fitting in and, generally, a slump. Things were hard.

Zubimendi, positionally, in defensive organisation, in decision-making and in helping to try and create numerical superiority while his team plays out, is the oil which makes the cogs function smoothly.

You wouldn’t be far off to call him an aficionado’s footballer - one for the connoisseurs.

To appreciate "Zubi", a regional chess champion aged 11 and someone who loves to surf, you need to pay close attention.

I would bet that within a couple of months he will have gained upper body strength and will have become accustomed to the far more frenetic pace of the Premier League compared with La Liga – but that’s a journey he most certainly will have to make.

What should be tantalising for Arsenal fans is the idea that their new recruit will play as a defensive pivot so that both Declan Rice and more particularly Martin Odegaard can more often occupy more attacking positions and therefore push opposition midfield lines further back, both when in possession and out of possession.

There was a queue for this man’s services, and for good reason. But it might take time for every single Arsenal fan to fully understand why.

But Arteta knows - Zubimendi is made of the right stuff.