Time waits for no man and **Arsenal**are living through the consequences of not seizing the moment.
Third time was not the charm for the Gunners, who ended up second best in the Premier League and could not pass through the semi-final of the Carabao Cup or Champions League in the new year. It was the fifth year in a row with no major trophy at the club, who have had to go back to the drawing board.
As the years pass, fans are less full of the fuzzy feeling at how far the team has come under Mikel Arteta and continue to confront the reality that silverware is slipping through their fingers. But while the want to win now is greater than ever before, the side stands in a different position than in the past.
The board must not only back the manager with the additions of top end quality and rotational depth to take the next step— especially in the final third. It is also now critical to renew and refresh some more aging compartments of the setup to ensure that this squad is prepared to fight on multiple fronts at a time. The area of the field that most urgently requires young blood is the middle of the park.
To achieve that target, Arteta appears to be closing in on the services of a coveted Basque midfielder.
The state of Arsenal’s midfield
Looking back a year ago, the six position was arguably the most well-stocked slot in the squad.
Club record signing Declan Rice had asserted his presence in a deeper role for most of the first half of the 2023/24 campaign. When he started to play higher up the pitch, **Jorginho**filled his place as the pivot in most of February and March as the assault on the top spot gained more momentum. Then, a fit-again Thomas Partey picked up that responsibility from him for the final stretch of the season.
But at present, that dynamic has drastically shifted. Rice has come off a strong second half of the season but the future for Arsenal could be without his other two teammates in the engine room.
Jorginho, who earned about 700 **Premier League**minutes this term, has run down his deal in north London. He has already said his goodbyes, getting a move back to **Brazil**as he joined Flamengo.
On the other hand, Partey played 35 league matches and attained over 2800 minutes: that is the most game time that he has earned in a season at the Emirates Stadium. However, he has never renewed the contract he signed with the Gunners in 2020 and will become a free agent at the end of the month.
Talks about his future at the club are ongoing. While he will be haggling for one final payday that reflects his importance in the squad, the club shall take account of his age.
Whatever happens to the Ghanaian, the camp needs a new player to anchor the midfield imminently.
Martin Zubimendi is the man for the mission
The answer appears to be Martin Zubimendi. The 26-year-old has been a mainstay in the middle of the park for Real Sociedad, who also once had Mikel Merino and Martin Odegaard on their books. Out of all three midfielders, Zubimendi would have the fewest detractors upon his arrival in N5.
He made his debut for the Basques in 2019, and by the 2020/21 campaign, he had nailed down a spot in the starting eleven. A metronomic mark of consistency, the 26-year-old has made no fewer than 31 appearances in each of the last five **La Liga**seasons. As time has passed, observers have hailed him to be the next man in the lineage of great Spanish sixes, and he has shown his quality among the elite.
**England**fans would have been rubbing their hands gleefully when **Rodri**did not reappear for the second half of the final of the 2024 European Championships. However, La Roja roared on after the restart and his replacement did not skip a beat. Zubimendi sat at the base of the midfield, pulling off 92% of his passes, three tackles, and five successful duels as the game ran away from the Three Lions.
While Sociedad struggled in the last twelve months, he has earned more plaudits as a more permanent deputy for the Ballon d'Or winner, who has sat out of action due to an ACL injury. Part of the squad that won the Nations League in 2023, he came close to retaining the title earlier this month, having excelled in the semi-final of the tournament against France. The big stage is beckoning for him.
Last summer, Zubimendi turned down interest from Liverpool, but it now looks like he will be moving to English shores after all. **Arsenal**have reportedly agreed on a fee of around £55 million to pay for his services. That would be a little more than his £51 million release clause, but that outlay would give the Gunners a chance to stagger their payments and seal the deal for a signature signing.
How would Zubimendi impact the midfield?
A big midfield signing was always likely to suggest where the future of Rice would lie. A box-to-box midfielder who began his time in north London as a six, he took it upon himself to try and stimulate the attack as an eight in the new year. He cannot be pigeonholeed as a perfect fit for either position, but the arrival of Zubimendi would signal he is likely to get most of his minutes in a more advanced role.
If the idea is to get more marginal gains out of the six, then Zubimendi makes sense as an addition.
Rice cleanly strikes the ball and is happy to carry forward when the play is in front of him, but he can be stiff on the turn and is more of a stable presence. **Jorginho**was happy to sit as a static anchor, but he had major athletic flaws and could be robbed without options to pass out of the press. Partey had some of the better qualities of both these players but was prone to taking too many risks in his role.
Out of all three players, he has come closest to **Jorginho**in comparison. Indeed, the Spaniard sets the tempo and should be a steady figure as the six. However, if the time is right, he is ready to split the lines with his passing and can carry the ball to change the picture on the pitch, unlike the Italian.
This is more obvious when he plays in a double pivot for La Roja with a midfielder like Fabian Ruiz or Merino and at a club that has more quality, he could show some of his skills more consistently.
The worst and the best-case scenario
How much does his impending acquisition change the outlook on the campaign for the Gunners?
At worst, he is a tidy player who takes a little time to get to grips with the Premier League. The athletic prowess of Partey played a big part in his importance to Arteta's construction of one of the most solid outfits in England. Even if the Gunners gain through his strengths on the ball, they cannot afford to lose the stability that has been the foundation for their competitiveness in the last three years.
The Gunners could have also gone for stardust instead of stability. Some people might have spent the money on a more creative profile for the midfield— or at least a specialist in passing who can unpick opponents like Granit Xhaka did during the 2022/23 season. Neither of those two tags would fit Zubimendi and the fear may be that the side simply offers more of the same as we saw last year.
The argument for his worth as a marquee signing relies more on an improvement in the aggregate.
At best, he allows Arteta to loosen the reins a little. If he can carry out all the roles required of the six, Rice and Odegaard have a better balanced platform to focus on offering forward thrust in the ways that make them special. He could also allow Arsenal to toggle the tempo between reward and risk more instinctively: having dropped so many points with draws from leading positions last season, the presence of a player who can stop games from getting away from the team could be game changing.
It is a lot of pressure to put on his shoulders. But should Zubimendi be ready and willing to accept the challenge, he would be worth every penny if he could help the Gunners get to the promised land.