The signing of Jorginho in the January transfer window was a very wise move by Mikel Arteta and the Arsenal board after missing out on their priority signing Moises Caicedo.
The Italian joined the club on a two year contract with relatively low wages, and will provide fantastic cover for Xhaka/Partey and will help mentor the younger players with his experience of playing at the highest level, which could be vital in Arsenal’s title charge for the remainder of the season.
Jorginho is a player who’s won it before & is now only one one of three players in the current Arsenal squad to do so.
However, the signing of Jorginho will not interfere with Arsenal’s chase for a midfielder come the summer transfer window. The names currently on the shortlist are Declan Rice, Moises Caicedo, Youri Tielemans and Martin Zubimendi.
Martin Zubimendi is one of the standout performers for Real Sociedad in their fantastic season. They are currently placed third in La Liga, above the teams like Atletico Madrid and Villareal.
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Zubimendi has played in 19 out of 21 games so far this season, averaging a 6.98 rating. His performances didn’t go unnoticed since Europe’s top teams started enquiring about the 24-year old Spaniard. Barcelona and Arsenal are the clubs that are currently showing the most interest in his signature.
Arsenal were even willing to pay his €60m release clause in January according to reports, but Zubimendi wouldn’t move in the middle of the season, so the North London club decided to leave the negotiations. However, Arteta has directly asked the board to make an offer in the summer, with the hopes that the Spaniard will move from Basques to North London.
Barcelona see him as a long term Sergio Busquets successor, with Busquets deciding that he would leave Blaugrana in the summer after spending all his career in the club. However, the reports have come out that Busquets would be willing to extend his contract for another year to help his former teammate, now his coach, Xavi. This could really open the door for Arsenal to move for Zubimendi, who would be open to join The Gunners.
Although his release clause is €60m, it is not expected that Arsenal would pay that in the summer, but rather negotiate and hopefully struck a deal worth about €45m. Zubimendi also got rewarded with his first cap in The Spanish national team, making his debut against Lithuania in a friendly match.
If Arsenal decide to go for the 24-year old, there will be a massive competition coming from other teams since Zubimendi is a very quality midfielder. In case Arsenal decide to sign him, there is no doubt that Zubimendi will fit in Arteta’s project like a piece of the puzzle and will play an integral part for years to come.
