Manchester United are not planning to sign Martin Zubimendi in the summer transfer window, with Arsenal still working on the Real Sociedad midfielder.
Zubimendi has established himself as one of the best midfielders in Spain and was close to a move to Liverpool last summer. The 26-year-old had a late change of heart and eventually decided to stay at Sociedad, but it is still possible he will leave the LaLiga club at the end of the season.
One club that Zubimendi is very unlikely to join in the summer transfer window is Man Utd. There has been speculation in recent days that the Red Devils are interested in a summer deal for Zubimendi, who has a release clause of £51million in his contract at Sociedad. However, sources say that there has been no approach from Man Utd for the 26-year-old to date.
While things could change for Man Utd if Casemiro and Christian Eriksen left this summer and the Red Devils find themselves in need of signing a new midfielder, at the moment, they are not working on a deal for Zubimendi. The Red Devils’ priority is to add a number nine and potentially a wider attacker.
Man Utd will put any budget towards a goalscorer and the challenge with Zubimendi is despite an appealing €60million (£51m, $64.8m) release clause, the taxes, wage and agent fees make the overall cost of any deal quite high. Arsenal continue to work on persuading Zubimendi to join ahead of the summer.
Any major deals that Man Utd do in the summer transfer window will be dependent on offloading players.
Getting Marcus Rashford off their books, possibly selling Antony, finding a solution for Casemiro as well as letting Victor Lindelof and Eriksen leave for free at the end of the season all would contribute to Man Utd getting more funds in place for new signings.
Real Madrid have also been linked with Zubimendi, but our understanding is that Los Blancos are not trying to sign him.
A new defensive midfielder is not Madrid’s top priority, with the European giants not actively looking to sell Aurelien Tchouameni and feel well-covered in the No.6 position.
Madrid are focused on signing a new right-back, with Liverpool and England international star Trent Alexander-Arnold their top target, and are also looking for a new centre-back.
If Zubimendi was to leave Sociedad this summer, then it’s understood he would prefer to go outside of Spain.
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Arsenal frontrunners for Martin Zubimendi
As we have reported before, Arsenal are in pole position for Zubimendi.
The Gunners are cautiously optimistic about bringing the Sociedad star to the Emirates Stadium in the summer transfer window.
Sources say that although Arsenal have yet to reach a full agreement with Zubimendi, a broad set of personal terms have been verbally agreed upon in terms of wage and bonus structure.
However, the Gunners have not gotten the green light yet from the midfielder.
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