my only niggle since we were linked with this guy is he's not one of the genius technical spanish pass masters that will give us a major creative spark from deep. his passing is decent but not super adventerous/progressive, but he looks more inclined to drive forward with the ball than your average Spanish pivot mid. he looks more like a smaller version of partey, but with less explosion and less brave passing. he'll solidify our control ball tactics and probably create a nice twin-raiding tandem dynamic with rice.

TambourineMan think this may be a little cynical. Suspect it's more likely the reason it's come out now is because it's the transfer window so (a) journalists are a investing more time in sourcing transfer stories and (b) a team like City have been sniffing round him this month to replace Rodriguez, so further reason for the press to investigate what's going on with Zubimendi specifically.

      Don Pacifico
      Don’t be naive man. Arsenal would have briefed the journalists on this. It’s a clear PR move as I’ve seen it. You only do these moves in a crisis 😉

          • JazzG

          • Post #39

          Sicario2 - Tier 1 Possibly true but I also think that we haven't just quickly agreed a deal with Zubimendi to keep the fans happy, this was probably done in the last few months or maybe even last summer.

          We run a tighter operation these days, unlike in the summer where Liverpool end up getting embarrassed I don't think we'd brief journalists without knowing this deal is done.

            lorddulaarsenal Partey from 2-3 seasons ago was but not the current iteration and especially not when you take into account the shame he puts on the kit every time we march him out there. He's lost all his athleticism on the field and while Zubimendi isn't going to fill his older boots, he's a more fluid athlete than both Jorginho and Partey are currently while being an elite reader of the game a la Jorginho.

              Partey is better, but I don't care. Needs to go poof, and disappear.

              lorddulaarsenal feel like the bar is low. He's been OK in games, bad in others, with only a few moments that roll back the years.

                • CPM

                • Post #45

                I think Partey has been one of our best players this season. Not the character you want to keep around, but from a sporting perspective I'd like him on the team next year. Ideally Zubi is a Jorgi replacement, and gets some time to adjust to the PL.

                I share the concerns about Rice as an 8, but a lot of the problems with him playing there get solved with 2-3 more dynamic forwards (and a peak-condition Ødegaard).

                • JazzG

                • Post #46

                Missed this from yesterday, yet again Arteta being a driving force why top players want to join.

                Let’s hope we can get this over the line

                lorddulaarsenal
                Indeed. Our top 3 player this season. Instrumental for our second goal tonight. Sell Jorg, get Zubi in and keep Partey for back up. He’s innocent till guilty and if we have kept him this long then another year doesn't make a difference. We need squad depth.

                    Sicario2 - Tier 1 Nope. There’s enough smoke to that fire to put him in the bin regardless. We should not be keeping him around for any reason this summer. I couldn’t care less if he was player of the season for the rest of this season. Enough is enough. He’s been a stain on this club for the last 18 months and I can’t stand seeing him in our colors for any longer than necessary.

                      Gazza M were an isak away from completing the sociedad infinity stones set

                      might as well do it then. GOWAN ISAK ALL YOU MATES HERE.

                        • JazzG

                        • Post #51

                        Sicario2 - Tier 1 Do you think he's actually back or is this the usual bump in performance we see when a player has a year to run on his contract? I think we need to move on, he'll probably get a big contract elsewhere which we shouldn't match.

                            JazzG does it matter if it’s contract related? As long as we only offer him rolling one year contracts it’s fine. His performance are the metric, doesn’t matter the why.

                                well, it does if he's on £250k per week. You don't pay that to 32 year old back ups.

                                I saw something in the Ghana media last week, basically saying the decision has been made anyway.