Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is reportedly looking for a new defensive midfielder and his target is considered as one of the best in that position.
When Arsenal signed Declan Rice from West Ham for a transfer fee of £105m, most of us thought that Arsenal have finally signed the No.6 they need. We all believed that the England international was the answer to the Gunners' defensive midfield problems.
Well, while Rice has been a wonderful steal, it sure looks like he is not the defensive midfielder Arteta really wants. This season we have seen Jorginho occupy that position in big games and even more recently Thomas Partey has done that since returning from injury and finding his form.
Declan Rice on the other hand, has being occasionally played in the defensive midfield position, but have often played higher up the pitch as an additional No.8, just like club captain Martin Odegaard, only this time he is occupying the left side of the pitch.
With Arteta in need of a new defensive midfielder, questions have being raised of who could be better in that position than Declan Rice who often played in that position for West Ham before joining Arsenal.
However, one player comes to mind and that player is Real Sociedad midfielder Martin Zubimendi.
He is the player Mikel Arteta wants in that No.6 position for next season. Arguably, he is better than Declan Rice at the moment and I will give us three reasons to explain that.
1) Distribution and Passing Precision.
There is a reason Zubimendi is compared to former Barcelona player, Sergio Busquets. The 25-year-old moves the ball like the Barca legend, mixing short passes with long passes and switching play effortlessly.
He is one of the best deep lying creative midfielders at the moment. Regularly for Sociedad, we have seen him dropping between centre-backs before picking a forward pass either into the more advanced midfielders or the wide wingers. While Declan Rice is a good passer of the ball, Zubimendi is even better as one of his long balls into the path of the wingers can set Arsenal up for a quick counter.
2) Regulates Match Pace:
There are few players with this ability. Zubimendi sets the tone of how his team plays from the midfield, even though he plays closer to the defenders. In this current Arsenal squad, we have seen Martin Odegaard drop deep to receive the ball whenever Arsenal wants to break through their opponents high press. We don't see Declan Rice doing that, rather sometimes we would see Jorginho or Partey.
Zubimendi has that calm nature Busquets has with the ball at his feet, even if you press so hard he is calm to pick the right pass, whether short or long. He reads the game so well, anticipating the next pass even before the ball comes to him.
3) Defensive Reliability:
Zubimendi is so defensively clever. Though he is not the quickest, he hardly leaves himself expose to a situation where he has to use pace. He is a good tackler just like Rice, but he protects the defenders more than Rice, as he is not always seen doing ball carrying.