Arsenal face Martin Zubimendi transfer blow as Real Madrid may have last laugh after exit confirmed

Arsenal are on signing , and the midfielder is from Real Sociedad this .

football.london understands that Arsenal are that their work done across three sporting directors - , Jason Ayto and now - to sign the midfielder will be successful. , who has a €60million (£51million) release clause.

He, too, appears to be to the Basque club and San Sebastian. Namely, an reflecting on almost 15 years at his boyhood club.

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Local newspaper acknowledged it had a "tone that doesn't inspire optimism about his future". Another son of Donostia has also clarified his future.

"This week the club and I have agreed that these two games are going to be my last as Bayer Leverkusen coach," Xabi Alonso said during a pre-match press conference on Friday. He joined the club from Real Sociedad's reserve team three years ago.

Alonso also spent a similar amount of time there, having previously spent around 12 months coaching the under-14s at another of his former clubs, , while completing his coaching courses. It is now being widely reported in his homeland that Alonso will succeed in the Spanish capital next season.

Such is the expectation that potential signings are already being speculated about. reports that one is Zubimendi, albeit acknowledging the conflicting reports from England and San Sebastian about the assumption that will sign the player.

His current club is said to "leave room for doubt" based on Madrid's seemingly imminent coaching change, despite thinking similarly about their player's eventual destination. The link between Alonso and Zubimendi is inextricable.

The latter draws constant comparisons with the former due to their playing styles. Then there is the fact that Alonso coached Zubimendi at Real Sociedad B as the player ascended to the first team.

"He's an idol, a role model," Zubimendi said of Alonso during an interview with in September 2022. He recalled: "We would see each other a lot at the training ground in the dining room or the corridors, he would always stop me and talk.

Alonso is equally affectionate towards his former player. "Martin's a player all coaches would want," he has said. "I loved working with him."

Zubimendi has described the not-even-full season they spent working together as "lovely months". "It was when he came that I started playing more; with Xabi, I got a run of games.

"I could feel the affection he had for me, which maybe comes from having the same position. He made a point of trying to show me things, teaching me."

Such is the seemingly genuine affection between both, and Zubimendi's - fair or unfair - reputation garnered last summer for changing his mind, that it is not inconceivable that a move to Madrid may materialise.

Los Blancos could yet have the last laugh this summer, months after their quarter-final exit at the hands of Arsenal that effectively put the wheels in motion for Ancelotti's expected exit and Alonso's anticipated arrival.