The game-changing £52m Liverpool transfer target that makes perfect sense for Arne Slot's style of football
Liverpool look to be close to signing their first player of the summer transfer window - our analysis looks at whether it’s a smart move.
Right now, Real Sociedad and Spain midfielder Martín Zubimendi appears to be living proof of the old aphorism about one door opening after another closes – no sooner had Arsenal cooled their long-standing interest in him in order to focus on signing his team-mate Mikel Merino instead, than another Premier League club comes along to try and snatch him up. According to the Athletic, that club is Liverpool.
A report released on Wednesday by David Ornstein and Guillermo Rai claims that Liverpool have been “exploring a deal” for the 25-year-old holding midfielder, who played a key role as Sociedad qualified for European competition in both of the last two seasons and played in the final of Euro 2024. It remains unclear whether Liverpool will have to pay off the entirety of his €60m (£51.7m) release clause or whether they will be able to negotiate a better deal, but a deal appears likely with the player reportedly agreeing personal terms.
With a move looking more than likely, the question is whether the Spaniard is the right man for Arne Slot’s midfield. Although Wataru Endo proved to be a very capable stopgap, the need for a long-term replacement for Fabinho remains acute both to bolster protection for defence and to free Alexis Mac Allister up to play further upfield – so is Zubimendi the answer, and could he repay a potential €60m outlay?
During pre-season, new Liverpool head coach Slot has employed a 4-3-3 formation very similar to that which Jürgen Klopp preferred, meaning that it is very likely that the Dutchman envisions playing with one more reserved, defensive midfielder with more fluid ‘number eights’ like Mac Allister or Dominik Szoboszlai further ahead. On paper, Zubimendi’s skillset should suit that role very well, but there will be some adaptation to do.
Zubimendi has played his entire club career under the same manager and in effective the same system – long-serving Sociedad head coach Imanol Alguacil gave him his debut in 2018 and he has operated in Alguacil’s double pivot ever since, generally playing a more reserved role compared to the player he operates alongside. Slot, too, has typically worked with a two-man midfield base, but a combination of a surfeit of midfielders and a relative dearth of centre-halves seems to have persuaded Slot to move on from his preferred 3-4-3 formation.
That means that in playing at the base of a three-man midfield, Zubimendi will be exploring new territory alongside the usual challenges of playing for a new coach in a new country. It’s a fight he seems equipped to win, however.
Like most first-rate holding midfielders, Zubimendi is a highly impressive tackler who won nearly 55% of his one-on-one duels last season and who reads the game extremely well, registering healthy numbers of interceptions and shutting opposing attackers down with regularity. He isn’t an especially physical player but he is both disciplined and technically sound, and makes very few telling errors.
He's also a confident and capable passer who typically looks for short and simple balls but who also has great judgement of when to look for a more direct option – although he only plays a limited number of long passes, his accuracy with them is quite impressive and he generates a lot of positive yardage downfield in most games he plays. He’s both economical and efficient and getting attacks going, even if he rarely ventures up towards the opposing area and creates little directly. In 144 league appearances for Sociedad, he has been responsible for just seven goals and five assists.
Fundamentally, he should have the chops required to be a Premier League-level defensive midfielder – but is he enough of an upgrade over the likes of Endo and Mac Allister to be worth spending a significant amount of money on?
The raw numbers from last season (with some key statistical metrics from the past year shown in the table above) suggest that Zubimendi is only a direct improvement in terms of reliability in the tackle, but his reading of the game and positional discipline are key – with last season’s defensive midfield options Liverpool typically either had to play Endo, who was a little too easy to beat one-on-one, or Mac Allister, who could be sucked out of position as he looked to press and put out fires at source. Zubimendi is a more reliable safety blanket who is unlikely to leave space for opposing attackers by dashing out of his zone, at least assuming he can make the tactical adaptions to his game required by a 4-3-3 system.
Whether that extra defensive security is worth €60m is more a matter for accountants than for analysts, but it’s easy to see why Liverpool believe he could be their man. He has the defensive chops, is proven at European Championships and Champions League level, and while not a creative visionary he has the fundamental technique and passing skill to help Liverpool to maintain their free-flowing, attacking style ticking over. He may not be a revelation and perhaps won’t be quite as good as Fabinho once was, but signing him makes a considerable amount of sense.