Arsenal are poised to strengthen their engine room with the arrival of Real Sociedad lynchpin Martin Zubimendi in the summer of 2025 – but how did the 26-year-old perform in his side’s recent 4-0 drubbing at the hands of a rampant Atletico Madrid?
Alexander Sorloth – who was previously on the books of Txuri-Urdin between 2021 and 2023 – produced a four-goal display on Saturday evening as Diego Simeone’s men ran out 4–0 victors, while Real Sociedad are now languishing in the bottom half of La Liga.
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But all eyes were on one man: Zubimendi, who played as a lone defensive midfielder for 73 minutes before being substituted in favour of Jon Olasagasti. He was entrusted with a key role – but did he perform it well? And what are the Spanish media saying?
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Born and raised in San Sebastian, Spain, the rangy engine room patroller is set to move to north London in the summer after reaching an agreement in principle, as reported yesterday by GIVEMESPORT’s Ben Jacobs.
As expected, the Emirates Stadium faithful – who have had to endure, yet another, trophyless season – are eager to keep tabs on their inevitable arrival between now and the end of the 2024/25 campaign. He has three matches left in Sociedad colours.
His side will play host to Celta Vigo on Tuesday 13 May before welcoming Girona to the Reale Arena the week after. Zubimendi’s final hurrah for Imanol Alguacil’s side will be against none other than title-chasing Real Madrid on Sunday 25 May.
The Spaniard, who has played just shy of 250 times for his boyhood club, was stationed in the heart of La Real's midfield against Atletico. Pablo Martin and Luka Sucic formed a two-man partnership just ahead of the Euro 2024 winner.
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Spanish publication Diario AS, who produced player ratings for the four-goal La Liga encounter, has reacted to the Arsenal-bound central midfielder’s performance against Simeone’s men. Admitting that it wasn’t his finest display, they wrote:
“In line with recent matches, where his [Zubimendi] form has dropped significantly. A more than modest performance on the day his summer move to Arsenal was practically a done deal. He was the man behind Real’s first shot of the first half, which came in the 46th minute.”
Statistically, while stationed as the fulcrum of his side, he took 46 touches within 74 minutes of action – and from those, 31/37 (84%) of his passes were considered accurate. Struggling to make things tick in the middle, the midfielder completed just one key pass and was defensively poor.
Zubi
Mopping up in front of the back four is Zubimendi's forte - but against Simeone and his men, he won 50% (1/2) of his ground duels, failed to challenge for a single ball in the air and lost possession on five different occasions. That said, as probably expected, Atletico enjoyed the lion's share of possession.
All statistics per Sofascore - correct as of 11/05/2025