COMING L!VE FROM FABRIZIO ROMANO: Arsenal complete the signing of £65m Europe best playmaker who singlehandedly destroyed Portugal in Nations league game last week,Player set to arrive with representatives Today for Medical – HERE WE GO CONFIRMED
COMING L!VE FROM FABRIZIO ROMANO: Arsenal complete the signing of £65m Europe best playmaker who singlehandedly destroyed Portugal in Nations league game last week,Player set to arrive with representatives Today for Medical – HERE WE GO CONFIRMED
Arsenal have finally agreed a deal to sign Martin Zubimendi following weeks of negotiations and conflicting reports muddying the waters. Zubimendi has a £51million release clause in his contract with Real Sociedad, but as Liverpool well know, agreeing to pay that fee does not mean the deal is done.
The Spanish midfielder pulled out of a move to Anfield last summer and his reluctance to leave his boyhood club has coloured his anticipated transfer to north London. Zubimendi had agreed to the move well before the summer transfer window opened for business on June 1, yet there have been delays in Arsenal announcing his capture.
Reported interest from Real Madrid and non-committal words from Zubimendi himself had confused matters. But it now seems that Arsenal have got the deal over the line, with an explanation emerging for why it has taken so long.
Real Sociedad told Arsenal they wanted the deal to go through in July for accounting reasons, as first reported by The Athletic. Simultaneously, negotiations dragged on because Arsenal were bartering over the structure of the deal, wanting to pay his release clause in instalments, as is commonplace in the transfer market.
Now, rarther than going to dump the entire cost in the Spanish Football Federation’s offices, Arsenal have agreed to pay La Real a total of £55m – £4m over the release clause – in order to spread the cost out over a couple of years. The Gunners have spent months negotiating with the Spanish side and are happy with the outcome.
This is understood to be the reason behind delays, not any interference from Real Madrid. While a fan of Zubimendi, Los Blancos have never made any formal approach to Real Sociedad for the midfielder, who had worried some Arsenal fans with his words last week.
“Of course there are options, but it’s true that it seems like it’s going to be a different, long summer, and I don’t know how it will end,” he said. “I don’t think thinking about it right now is my priority. I’m here with the national team, which I think is already quite demanding, and if I have to say something, then I will.”
But with Xabi Alonso now at the helm at the Bernabeu, and Zubimendi having worked with the ex-Liverpool star previously in Sociedad, there is still the question over exactly when the deal will go through to take the Spain international to the Emirates. For their part, the Gunners remain confident that he will indeed still be their man.
Arsenal need to spread out the cost of signing Zubimendi in order to keep funds available for their other transfer dealings this summer. The Gunners are desperate to sign a world-class centre-forward, having finished second in three successive Premier League campaigns and been knocked out of the Champions League in the semi-finals.
They are in negotiations with RB Leipzig over the signing of Benjamin Sesko, with the German side demanding £70m for his services. They also hold an interest in Sporting Lisbon goal machine Viktor Gyokeres, who would cost around £60m, and Athletic Bilbao winger Nico Williams – although his contract demands are a turn off.
