Reports suggest Liverpool are trying to sign Martín Zubimendi from Real Sociedad. We take a look to see where the Spain midfielder might fit at Anfield.
We’re more than a week into August and Liverpool are yet to make their first signing of the summer transfer window. They are the only Premier League club to have not signed anyone.
With a new sporting director in Richard Hughes and a head coach in Arne Slot, more movement in the transfer market was perhaps expected, but time has been taken to evaluate the players and find solutions where needed. Slot said recently he doesn’t think major surgery is required on the squad he inherited from Jürgen Klopp.
Reports on Wednesday suggested he could be about to make a move for Real Sociedad midfielder Martín Zubimendi to potentially solve what has been a problem position for Liverpool in the last couple of seasons.
The form of Fabinho and Jordan Henderson dropped off in 2022-23 to the point that there were few reservations about selling them to clubs in the Saudi Pro League last summer, which led to the club undergoing a midfield rebuild.
Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch arrived, and that freshness played a part in Liverpool securing a third-place finish in the Premier League.
However, with the surprise exit of Klopp and arrival of Slot at the end of last season, there was always a chance that the Dutchman would want to make further changes in the middle of the park, and it appears that is the case.
Endo was a surprise signing from Stuttgart, but the Japan captain largely impressed last season. Like many others, his form dipped in the latter stages of 2023-24 as Liverpool’s title challenge faded, but overall, it was a respectable debut campaign for the 31-year-old.
On Liverpool’s pre-season tour of the United States, Endo started the first game against Real Betis, but after that, he wasn’t given much time on the pitch, with the likes of Szoboszlai, Gravenberch, Curtis Jones and even 17-year-old Trey Nyoni picked ahead of him.
There have been reports that Liverpool will entertain bids for Endo this summer, and the suggestion is that Slot would prefer someone more comfortable in possession in the number six position.
That’s where Zubimendi comes in.
In an ideal alternate universe, Slot would have probably loved to have a fully fit Thiago Alcântara to call on, but the former Bayern Munich man retired over the summer after barely playing last season due to injury issues.
Zubimendi is not a Thiago replica, but there are certain similarities.
The 25-year-old has been compared to Sergio Busquets as well as his idol and former manager Xabi Alonso. He sits at the base of midfield and collects the ball from the goalkeeper or defenders, allowing his team to build out from the back, something Slot – like most modern coaches – insists upon. Press-resistant and calm under pressure, Zubimendi has carved out a reputation as one of Europe’s best players in a tough role to get right.
It’s no wonder he has been regularly linked with European giants such as Arsenal, Bayern and Manchester United. Real Sociedad are apparently trying to talk their pivote into snubbing outside interest again, and it’s easy to understand why.
As our article from almost two years ago on him outlined, Zubimendi’s brilliance is in almost not being noticed. He enables others around him to shine, putting the team above all else.
It is testament to Rodri that whenever discussions about players in the deepest midfield position come about, there’s an acceptance that you just need to find the next best thing to the Manchester City star. Spain boss Luis de la Fuente clearly thinks that man is Zubimendi, as far as Spanish players go anyway. He was Rodri’s backup during their successful Euro 2024 campaign and came off the bench to replace him at half-time in the final, when Spain turned it on against England.
The assumption was that Rodri’s absence would give England a big chance, but Zubimendi took over where his teammate had left off and shone in Berlin. He completed 24 of 26 passes (92.3%), including 100% of his six passes in the final third, won all five of his duels, won possession three times (as many as Rodri in the first half) and made three tackles, with only Dani Carvajal and Fabián Ruiz (four) making as many, and both played the full game.
Born in San Sebastián in the Basque Country, Real Sociedad are Zubimendi’s club. He has been there since the age of 12 and has turned down moves to bigger teams to stay with his boyhood club. He has been a regular part of La Real’s midfield since 2019, playing 188 times in all competitions for the first team.
Sociedad boss Imanol Alguacil would be loathe to lose his key man in midfield, especially with Arsenal reportedly trying to sign another of his gems in Mikel Merino.
Zubimendi is particularly good at retaining the ball, and only lost possession 9.1 times per 90 minutes in La Liga last season. Of midfielders who played at least 1,000 minutes, only 13 averaged fewer losses of possession per 90. It is a metric that should be taken with a pinch of salt, given players who regularly attempt more adventurous passes often record higher numbers when it comes to losing possession.
That doesn’t mean Zubimendi is too careful, though; in fact, 467 of his 1,535 passes were forward (30.4%), a higher percentage than, for example, Luka Modric (26.8%).
He averaged 51.7 passes per 90 in La Liga in 2023-24, with an accuracy of 86.4%. That’s close to the same numbers he produced in the previous two years when he really began making a name for himself.
Real Sociedad averaged 55.5% possession in La Liga last season, but Zubimendi would likely see even more of the ball at Liverpool, who averaged 61.3% possession in the Premier League, while Slot’s Feyenoord averaged 62.3% in the Eredivisie. The Dutchman was heard to shout “Kill them with passes!” during a Liverpool open training session in the U.S.
It’s not just in La Liga where Zubimendi has impressed. His first time competing in the UEFA Champions League last season went as well as could be expected. La Real reached the last 16 before being eliminated by Paris Saint-Germain, but Zubimendi handled the pressure well – in more ways than one.
He completed 328 of his 377 passes under pressure in the Champions League last season (87%), higher than his overall pass accuracy in La Liga.
He also executed 65 line-breaking passes in the Champions League, 15 of which came in an impressive showing in the 3-1 home win over Benfica in the group stage.
In comparison to Liverpool’s main midfield options last season, Zubimendi had greater duel success, winning 54.6%, with Mac Allister the only Reds midfielder to end the campaign with more than 50% success. Meanwhile, only Gravenberch averaged fewer passes and a lower pass accuracy, but the Dutchman mostly played in a more advanced role on the left of a midfield three.
Comparing Zubimendi to Endo, the numbers on the surface don’t show that much difference. It has to be remembered that Endo’s numbers came from playing for Liverpool while Zubimendi’s were in a different system at Sociedad, but the Japan international had a higher pass accuracy in the league (88.4% to 86.4%) and more chances created from open play per 90 (0.8 to 0.5), though more of Zubimendi’s passes were forward (30.4% to 28.1%). Endo did lose possession more often per 90 (11.2 to 9.1), though, and was dribbled past by an opponent more often per 90 (2.2 to 0.6).
That points to how good Zubimendi can be in defensive situations. He’s not an aggressive defensive midfielder in the mould of a Javier Mascherano, but he does enough to help his team break opposition play up. As you can see below, he won 81 of 157 ground duels in La Liga in 2023-24 (51.6%) compared to Endo’s 83 ground duels won out of 201 in the Premier League (41.3%).
Ultimately – and this is probably not something we should be admitting in an article analysing his data – but Zubimendi is arguably the sort of player who can’t really be done justice via the numbers, as was somewhat the case with Busquets.
Incidentally, the former Barcelona midfielder’s last post on X was just prior to their 4-0 Champions League semi-final defeat at Anfield in 2019. Five years later, his heir apparent could be about to write his own story on Merseyside.
Xabi Alonso coached Zubimendi when in charge of Real Sociedad B, and explained why he’s such a big fan of the player, saying: “Martin’s a player all coaches would want. He’s generous, he always thinks more about his teammates than himself. He has that ability to generate play, to make those around him better, always offering solutions; to improve the move.
“He understands what the next step is before the ball gets to him… I loved working with him.”
The latest reports suggest the player is still undecided about leaving his boyhood club, but should the deal happen, Zubimendi would be the first player to move from Real Sociedad to Liverpool since Alonso in 2004. Making anything like the same impact at Anfield as the Bayer Leverkusen manager would more than suffice for the fans.
It would also make Zubimendi the first signing for Liverpool under Arne Slot. Watching him play could help provide a window into what the post-Klopp era will look like.
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